Asia-Pacific markets were trading lower on Wednesday, led by Hong Kong markets, while China’s benchmark index closed at its lowest level in over a month as investors assessed earnings and comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve board members.
Shares of Chinese food delivery giant Meituan plunged 12% after warning of a demand slowdown for its services in its third-quarter earnings call.
Chinese e-commerce giant Pinduoduo posted 94% revenue growth in the third quarter, far outpacing Alibaba’s 9% growth in the same period.
The mainland Chinese CSI 300 index closed 0.86% lower at 3,488.31, falling to the lowest level since late October.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index tumbled 2.47% in the final hour of trading, leading losses among major Asian benchmarks.
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In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 extended gains from Tuesday and climbed 0.29% to close at 7,035.3. as the country’s overall inflation rate for October slowed to 4.8%, its lowest rate since January 2022.
South Korea’s Kospi slipped marginally, finishing at 2,519.81 after hitting a two-month high on Tuesday, but the small-cap Kosdaq closed 0.73% up at 822.44.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.26% to end at 33,321.22, marking three straight days of losses, while the Topix was down 0.51% and closed at 2,364.5.
| TICKER | COMPANY | NAME | PRICE | CHANGE | %CHANGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| .N225 | Nikkei 225 Index | *NIKKEI | 32791.8 | 483.94 | 1.5 |
| .HSI | Hang Seng Index | *HSI | 16190.24 | -144.13 | -0.88 |
| .AXJO | S&P/ASX 200 | *ASX 200 | 7199 | 4.1 | 0.06 |
| .SSEC | Shanghai | *SHANGHAI | 2991.44 | 21.88 | 0.74 |
| .KS11 | KOSPI Index | *KOSPI | 2525.36 | 7.51 | 0.3 |
| .FTFCNBCA | CNBC 100 ASIA IDX | *CNBC 100 | 8331.85 | -9.84 | -0.12 |
Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes rose after Waller’s comments that the Fed could be done hiking rates, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding 0.24%.
In contrast, Governor Michelle Bowman said more rate hikes will likely be needed, “so as to keep policy sufficiently restrictive to bring inflation down to our 2 percent target in a timely way.”
The broader S&P 500 index inched higher by 0.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.29%.
— CNBC’s Pia Singh and Alex Harring contributed to this report.