Asian stocks are mixed following a quiet day on Wall Street

HONG KONG — Asian shares were mixed on Wednesday, pressured by a rising US dollar and uncertainties over the US election.

US futures and oil prices fell due to escalating post-Israel geopolitical tensions announced that an airstrike outside Beirut earlier this month killed a Hezbollah official who was expected to succeed the group’s longtime leader after being killed in an Israeli strike last month.

In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.3% to 38,300.81, while the dollar rose against the Japanese yen.

The shares of Tokyo Metro Co. rose 43% in their trading debut early Wednesday. The company raised 348.6 billion yen ($2.3 billion) in its initial public offering, making it Japan’s largest IPO since SoftBank Corp. went public in 2018.

Chinese markets rose for a second day after the central bank cut the one- and five-year Loan Prime Rates on Monday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.7% to 20,841.73, and the Shanghai Composite gained 0.8% to 3,311.87.

State media have reported that a state-backed think tank has proposed issuing 2 trillion yuan ($281 billion) in special government bonds to establish a market stabilization fund that aims to further ease hidden debt pressures and boost market confidence to inject.

“Yet, despite the bold proposal, there is a sense that Beijing still remains in reactionary mode, playing catch-up rather than leading the way,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, in a commentary.

Elsewhere, the Australian S&P/ASX 200 was virtually unchanged at 8,207.20. South Korea’s Kospi was 1.3% higher at 2,594.23.

Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.8%, while India’s Sensex gained 0.2%.

On Tuesday the S&P500 fell less than 0.1% to 5,851.20. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell less than 0.1% to 42,924.89. The Nasdaq index rose 0.2% to 18,573.13.

Stocks have slowed their record momentum this week amid mounting pressure from rising Treasury yields in the bond market.

The yield on the 10-year government bond remained stable at 4.20%, where it was late on Monday. That’s well above the 4.08% level it reached on Friday. Higher yields on government bonds could make investors less willing to pay high prices for stocks, which critics say already appear overpriced.

Government bond yields have risen following a series of reports showing that government bond yields have risen American economy stays stronger than expected. That’s good news for Wall Street, because it boosts hopes that the economy can do just that escape of the the worst inflation in generations without the painful part recession which many had worried was inevitable.

“What seems to be unfolding before our eyes is a soft landing scenario that only the most optimistic dream of,” said Gregory Daco, EY’s chief economist.

But it also forces Wall Street traders to adjust expectations about what interest rates the Federal Reserve will yield reduce interest. The central bank has made the drastic move to cut interest rates in the hope of keeping the economy strong, but an economy that is more resilient than expected would not need as much help.

Traders now largely expect the Fed to further cut its key interest rate by half a percentage point by the end of the year, data from CME Group shows. A month ago, some of those same traders were betting that the federal funds rate would end the year as much as half a percentage point lower.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude fell 10 cents to $71.64 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 9 cents to $75.95 a barrel.

In currency trading, the US dollar rose from 151.03 yen to 152.00 Japanese yen. The euro fell from $1.0803 to $1.0802.

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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.