TOKYO — Asian shares were mostly lower on Wednesday after Wall Street showed mixed results.
Investors were monitoring the market impact of the debate between US presidential candidates Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
The value of the US dollar has risen against its peers in the past as expectations for a Trump re-election have increased, among other moves that have come to be known as part of the “Trump trade,” in part because of his calls for tariffs.
In currency trading, the US dollar fell to 141.32 Japanese yen from 142.41 yen. The euro was worth $1.1047, up from $1.1023.
The US dollar fell to 140 yen at one point after a Japanese central bank official was quoted by Japanese media as saying the Bank of Japan was preparing to raise interest rates, a move that had been expected here for some time.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 1.5% to close at 35,619.77, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.3% to 7,987.90.
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.7% to 2,505.87 after data showed the country’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell slightly to 2.4% in August 2024 from 2.5% in July, the lowest rate in a year as the number of unemployed declined.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.8% to 17,093.12, while the Shanghai Composite fell nearly 1.0% to 2,718.21.
On Wall Street, the S&The P 500 rose 0.4%, coming within 3% of its July record.
The stock fluctuated between small gains and losses throughout the day, but these were mild compared to the declines since the summer, which were driven by concerns about the slowing U.S. economy and whether expected interest rate cuts would prevent a potential recession.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 92 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.8%.
Shares of big technology companies lifted indexes, but banking woes weighed on the market after dire comments from several executives at an industry conference.
All in all, the S&The P 500 rose 24.47 points to 5,495.52. The Dow fell 92.63 to 40,736.96 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 141.28 to 17,025.88.
On the bond market, Treasury yields fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 3.64% from 3.70% Monday night.
Like stocks, U.S. Treasury yields are swinging wildly ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve meeting, where expectations are that the Fed will cut its key interest rate for the first time since the COVID-19 crisis of 2020.
The Fed is no longer focused on suppressing high inflation, but on protecting the economy. The debate on Wall Street is focused on how much the Fed will cut the federal funds rate, which has been at its highest level for two decades.
Reports out this week on U.S. inflation could affect the size of the Fed’s upcoming cuts. The worst-case scenario for the Fed would be if inflation accelerated again while the labor market weakened, since helping either would require taking opposing steps.
Economists expect the latest inflation report to show that U.S. consumer prices were 2.6 percent higher in August than a year earlier, a slowdown from July’s 2.9 percent inflation rate.
In energy trading, U.S. benchmark crude rose 69 cents to $66.44 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard that is near its lowest price since 2021, rose 72 cents to $69.91 a barrel.
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Stan Choe contributed to this report from New York.