Asian stock markets were posting modest losses in early trading Wednesday, after oil prices tumbled 7% Tuesday, marking their 12th straight session of losses. Crude prices CLZ8, +1.01% were again down slightly in early trading.
Japan’s Nikkei NIK, +0.16% traded up and down, and was last up 0.3%. The dollar USDJPY, +0.07% was at ¥113.92, versus ¥113.80 in late New York trade, while the 20-year yield was down a half-basis point at 0.64% following Tuesday’s drop in Treasury yields. Oil producer Inpex 1605, -1.86% fell 2.3% while Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. 1662, -2.13% dropped 3.4%. On the positive side, SoftBank 9984, +4.71% jumped 3.6% and TDK 6762, +3.01% was up 2.5%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HSI, -0.54% was down 0.4% amid slides in mainland China oil heavyweights following crude’s slump. Cnooc 0883, -4.65% was down 4.5% and Sinopec 0386, -2.25% fell 3.6%. Meanwhile, Tencent 0700, -0.80% was off 0.5% ahead of its after-the-bell third-quarter earnings report.
Chinese stock benchmarks were mixed in early trading, with the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, -0.85% off 0.2% while the smaller-cap Shenzhen Composite 399106, -0.40% up 0.1%. PetroChina 601857, -2.73% slid 3% to hit three-month lows. Automobile air-conditioning company Hengli Industrial 000622, +2.51% was down 3% in Shenzhen after rising the 10% daily limit in 13 of the past 14 sessions.
Australia’s ASX 200 XJO, -1.74% was down 1.5%, again dragged down by energy and financial stocks. Woodside Petroleum WPL, -2.49% was down 3%, as was Oil Search OSH, -2.61% . New Zealand’s NZX-50 NZ50GR, -0.38% was down 0.4%.
South Korea’s Kospi SEU, -0.15% dropped slightly, while benchmark indexes in Singapore STI, -0.34% and Taiwan Y9999, +0.16% were mixed.
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