BANGKOK (AP) – Asian stocks were mixed Wednesday, with Tokyo stocks lower after Japan said exports rose nearly 10% in December.
US futures and crude oil prices rose slightly.
Chinese stocks resumed their rally after Wang Jiangjun, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, urged greater investor protection and evoked confidence in the potential for a market rally after slumping in recent months.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 2% to $15,569.39, helped by gains in technology companies such as e-commerce giant Alibaba, which jumped 3.8%.
The Shanghai Composite Index recovered from early losses and rose 1.8% to 2,820.77.
Japan's exports rose nearly 3% in 2023, but imports fell 7%, leaving the trade deficit at 9.2 trillion yen, a sharp decline from the previous year's deficit of 20.3 trillion yen, according to provisional customs data. did.
But economists expect the recovery in export growth to be short-lived.
“Looking ahead, we expect export growth to slow this year as pent-up overseas demand for Japanese products eases,” said Gabriel Ng of Capital Economics.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.8% to 36,226.48. It was also hit by fresh speculation that the Bank of Japan was inching toward changing its years of accommodative monetary policy, which flooded markets with cash.
In South Korea, the Kospi fell 0.4% to 2,469.69.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.1% to 7,519.20.
India's Sensex fell 0.1%, while Bangkok's SET rose 0.2%.
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 index set a new record as earnings season for major U.S. companies got into full swing.
The index rose 0.3% to 4,864.60. The Nasdaq Composite also rose 0.4% to 15,425.94. However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% a day after breaking above 38,000 for the first time. It ended at 37,905.45.
Procter & Gamble rose 4.1% after posting stronger-than-analyst-expected profits in the latest quarter.
United Airlines also rose 5.3% after the airline said profits for the final three months of 2023 were better than analysts expected. The airline increased revenue from customers in both basic economy and premium seats, but warned it could be in the red for the first three months of the year due to the grounding of its Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft.
Earnings season is in full swing, with more than a dozen S&P 500 companies reporting their latest quarterly results on Tuesday morning. More than 50 companies, including Tesla and Intel, plan to follow up later this week.
Among the big stocks Tuesday was Verizon Communications, which rose 6.7% after beating analysts' profit estimates. General Electric Co. also beat market expectations, but its stock fell 1% after its current quarter profit outlook fell short of analysts' expectations. Homebuilder DR Houghton fell 9.2% after reporting lower-than-expected profits.
Analysts expect overall earnings per share for S&P 500 companies to decline from a year ago, marking the fourth decline in the past five quarters, according to FactSet. But stocks are still rising to record levels on expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates several times this year.
These cuts could raise investment prices while easing pressure on the economy and financial system.
U.S. Treasury yields have already fallen sharply since the fall on expectations for future rate cuts, but critics warn that traders may have again over-estimated the number of rate cuts and when the Fed will begin. .
In other trading Wednesday, benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 18 cents to $74.55 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was down 39 cents on Tuesday.
Brent crude, the international standard crude, rose 18 cents to $79.73 per barrel.
The dollar fell from 148.38 yen to 147.76 yen. The euro rose to $1.0870 from $1.0855.
