Asia-Pacific markets had a mixed day of trading on Wednesday as investors parsed Japan’s trade data. As per data from the country’s finance ministry released on Wednesday reported that the exports of Japan increased by 6.1 percent year-on-year in November.
The expansion was a drastic deviation from the projected 4.8 percent upward growth by economists surveyed by Reuters and was more than the 3.6 percent growth in the previous month.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan was traded flat, and the Topix decreased by 0.25 percent. The Kospi of South Korea rose by 0.72 percent, and the small-cap Kosdaq rose by 0.19 percent.
However, the Japanese financial institution SBI Shinsei Bank surged more than 12 percent following a 322-billion-yen($2.1billion) IPO. These stocks were valued at 1,450 yen per share. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 is down by 0.25 percent.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was slightly up, whereas the CSI 300 in mainland China was slightly down. Chinese chipmaker MetaX Integrated Circuits’ stock shot up more than 700 percent on its debut on Shanghai stocks on Wednesday, having raised almost $600 million in its initial public issue.
Like Moore Threads, which had a strong debut at the beginning of the month, MetaX creates graphics processing units that can be used in artificial intelligence applications, and it is an area with high potential for growth owing to the increased use of AI services.
Meanwhile, the shares of crypto exchange HashKey went up approximately 3 percent when it came to trade on the Hong Kong stock exchange, having raised approximately $207 million in its initial public issue.
Oil prices surged as U.S. President Donald Trump said in one of his posts on the social media platform Truth Social that he will be ordering a “TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS” entering and leaving Venezuela.
West Texas Intermediate increased above 1 percent to $55.96 per barrel. The U.S. crude oil prices dropped nearly 3 percent on Tuesday to settle at the lowest point since early 2021, with an impending surplus and a potential peace agreement in Ukraine hanging over the market.
In the U.S., the S&P 500 continued to fall overnight, marking the third session in a row, as investors processed the late publication of the November job market. The broad market index slipped by 0.24 percent to settle at 6,800.26, but the Nasdaq Composite rose by 0.23 percent to end at 23,111.46. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 302.30 points, or 0.62 percent, to close at 48,114.26.
