The Australian flag is raised in front of Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark on January 14, 2024.
Christoph Z. Markovich | Null Photo | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Wednesday as major Wall Street benchmarks rose, with the Nasdaq Composite Index closing at a record high as tech stocks rose.
Asian traders assessed Australian consumer price data, with headline inflation falling to 2.8% year-on-year in the September quarter, down from 3.8% in the previous quarter. Economists polled by Reuters expected inflation to be 2.9%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 traded 0.35% lower.
Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average opened 0.8% higher, while the TOPIX rose 0.6%.
The Bank of Japan will begin a two-day policy meeting on Wednesday, and economists polled by Reuters expect it to keep interest rates unchanged at 0.25%.
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.5%, and the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.4%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was 20,746 and the index’s last close was 20,701.14.
In the US, the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.78% to close at a record high of 18,712.75.
The S&P 500 rose 0.16% to close at 5,832.92, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 154.52 points, or 0.36%, to close at 42,233.05.
—CNBC’s Hakyung Kim and Alex Harring contributed to this report.
