Asia-Pacific stocks were mostly quiet in early Wednesday trading, with Japanese stocks making up early losses following muted moves in the U.S. and a steady yen, while Australia’s benchmark rebounded some following Tuesday’s underperformance.
The Nikkei NIK, +0.23%[1] turned slightly higher after edging lower following the opening bell, after posting three gains in the past four days. Some profit-taking was underway after this week’s gains were being balanced out by the dollar-yen hitting session highs of ¥109.93. That helped automakers, which jumped to start the week. Toyota 7267, -0.09%[2] was last up more than 1%. Other export-related names were also seeing a lift, with Sony 6758, +1.54%[3] climbing 1.5% and Hitachi 6501, +3.02%[4] up 2.9%.
Chinese big caps were nearly flat in early trading. The Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, -0.17%[5] was up slightly after starting the day 0.3% lower, after rising 0.7% Tuesday, dragged down by energy and financial names. Meanwhile, Shenzhen’s benchmark 399106, +0.00%[6] was essentially flat after Tuesday’s outperformance. That came as Facebook confirmed it struck data partnerships with several Chinese electronics firms[7], including Huawei.
Australia’s S&P/ASX XJO, +0.37%[8] was up an early 0.3%, with the materials sector jumping more than 1% as big miners BHP Billiton BHP, +1.83%[9] and Rio Tinto RIO, +2.50%[10] were in rally mode, while New Zealand’s benchmark NZ50GR, +0.24%[11] ...