Stocks in Asia were mostly lower early Wednesday, with China stocks weak again and Japan’s Nikkei also turning lower following an upbeat opening.
Chinese stocks seesawed in early going. The Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, -0.21% was down 0.4% after falling 2.3% Tuesday. Smaller-cap stocks in Shenzhen 399106, -0.45% were also modestly lower. The energy sector, like elsewhere in the region, is the sore spot in China after the overnight plunge in oil prices. But financials are broadly up.
Here are the early signs China’s stock market woes are starting to infect the rest of the world.
China investors fear too much stock is being used as collateral, a big drag on markets.
The Nikkei index NIK, -0.12% is off 0.2% at 21,960, with electronics and cosmetics strong, rising 2-4%. Insurance and energy stocks are leading to the downside following respective declines in bond yields and oil prices overnight. As such, 10-year JGB yields are down a half-basis point at 0.14%.
Hong Kong stocks struggled for direction following Tuesday’s sharp selling. The Hang Seng HSI, -0.21% got up 0.5% in early trading but recently was 0.3% lower, while the China Enterprises Index is 0.1% lower. Tencent rebounded more than 1% while China Construction Bank is barely up after an unsurprising set of third-quarter results. And oil stocks are down some 4% to match the overnight plunge in crude.
This story was compiled from Dow Jones Newswire reports.
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