Asian stock markets largely started off with gains for the second day in a row early Wednesday, although Chinese indexes stumbled after Tuesday’s rally.
A day after near-3% bounces from multiyear lows, Chinese benchmarks were down slightly as the Trump administration confirmed it would impose 25% tariffs on $16 billion in Chinese imports later this month. The Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, -0.47% was down 0.5% and the Shenzhen Composite 399106, -0.50% slipped 0.4%.
Hong Kong stocks eked out gains as a pair of notable IPOs launched. The Hang Seng Index HSI, +0.05% was up 0.1%, with tech and energy stocks leading the gains. Tencent 0700, +1.29% was up 1.5% while PetroChina 0857, +2.55% gained 2.6%. Meanwhile, China Tower was sticking around its IPO price in initial trading while Nasdaq-listed biotech BeiGene was off 3.2% as its secondary offering started trading.
Financials and tech helped push Japan’s Nikkei NIK, +0.39% to a 0.4% gain. SoftBank 9984, +3.98% was strong again, up 3.8% more amid word that it plans to invest in Alibaba’s enlarged delivery-services unit. Meanwhile, the financial-business subsection climbed nearly 2% in morning trading.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s Kospi SEU, +0.10% inched up, as did benchmarks in Taiwan Y9999, +0.95% , Australia XJO, +0.33% and New Zealand NZ50GR, +0.21% , while Singapore’s Strait Times Index STI, -0.74% fell nearly 1%.
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