Global shares were mostly lower Wednesday on selling of technology shares following a lackluster day on Wall Street.
France’s CAC 40 fell 0.5 per cent in early trading to 8,213.90. The German DAX dipped 0.3 per cent to 24,251.58. Britain’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.6 per cent to 9,487.52.
The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were little changed. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was nearly flat and the Dow gained 0.5 per cent. The Nasdaq composite index lost 0.2 per cent.
In Asian trading, Chinese markets retreated after US President Donald Trump cast doubt on whether or not he will meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this month.
“Maybe it won’t happen, maybe it won’t happen,” he said while hosting a lunch for Republican Party senators at the White House.
However, Trump also said he was expecting “to do well” in negotiations with China.
“I’m going to see President Xi in two weeks… We’re going to meet in South Korea,” he said. “We’re going to talk about a lot of things they want to discuss.”
Trump is travelling in the next several days to Japan and South Korea, in part, to finalise the terms of investments from those countries as part of an agreement to minimise the tariff rates Trump is charging on foreign goods.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.9 per cent to 25,781.77, while the Shanghai Composite index inched down less than 0.1 per cent to 3,913.76.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 wavered between slight gains and losses a day after its parliament chose Sanae Takaichi to be its first female prime minister.
It closed almost flat at 49,307.79, pulled lower by declines for tech companies like SoftBank Group Corp, whose shares fell nearly 5 per cent
The government reported that Japan’s exports grew 4.2 per cent in September from a year earlier, boosted by robust shipments to Asia that offset a 13 per cent decline in those destined for the US Auto shipments fell 24 per cent as they were hit hard by Trump’s tariff hikes.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.7 per cent to 9,030.00, while South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.6 per cent to 3,883.68.
Upcoming corporate earnings reports also can provide details on the strength of the US economy at a time when the US government’s shutdown has delayed important economic updates.
That’s making the job of the Federal Reserve more difficult, as it tries to decide whether high inflation or the slowing job market is the bigger issue for the economy.
Despite the shutdown, the Commerce Department will release its consumer prices report on Friday, which could help guide the Fed’s interest rate policy. It will be the government’s first data release since the shutdown began on Oct 1.
In energy trading, benchmark US crude oil rose 96 cents to $58.20 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 99 cents to $62.31 a barrel.
In currency trading, the US dollar fell to 151.71 Japanese yen from 151.93 yen. The euro fell to $1.1594 from $1.1600.