(RTTNews) – Asian stock markets are trading mixed on Wednesday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders remain cautious and seem reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of key US economic data later in the week, including second quarter GDP and the US Fed’s preferred readings on consumer price inflation, which could impact the outlook for interest rates. Asian markets closed mostly lower on Tuesday.
Trump has threatened to impose “substantial additional tariffs” on countries that do not remove digital taxes and related regulations that harm U.S. tech companies. He also threatened to impose 200 percent tariffs on China if Beijing does not export rare-earth magnets to the U.S.
Further, in a letter posted on Truth Social on Monday, Trump said he is removing Fed Governor Lisa Cook from her position amid accusations she made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements.
However, Cook responded with a statement claiming Trump does not have the authority to fire her and said she will not resign. Cook said she will file a lawsuit challenging her removal, while the Fed said it will “abide by any court decision.”
Australian shares are trading modestly higher on Wednesday, recouping the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving above the 8,950 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains across most sectors led by mining and financial stocks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 21.20 points or 0.24 percent to 8,956.80, after touching a high of 8,965.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 17.90 points or 0.19 percent to 9,225.20. Australian stocks ended modestly lower on Tuesday.
Among major miners, BHP Group is gaining more than 1 percent, Mineral Resources is surging almost 5 percent and Rio Tinto is adding almost 1 percent, while Fortescue is losing almost 1 percent.
Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy and Santos are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Origin Energy is gaining almost 1 percent. Beach energy is losing almost 1 percent.
In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Xero are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each, while Zip is gaining almost 1 percent and Appen is advancing almost 4 percent. WiseTech Global is plunging more than 8 percent after it missed analysts’ expectations on revenue and profit growth.
Among the big four banks, Westpac is edging up 0.4 percent and Commonwealth Bank is adding more than 1 percent, while ANZ Banking and National Australia bank are gaining almost 1 percent each.
Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is advancing almost 3 percent, Resolute Mining is up 3.5 percent, Northern Star Resources is gaining more than 1 percent and Newmont is adding 1.5 percent, while Gold Road Resources is edging down 0.2 percent.
In other news, shares in Woolworths are diving almost 14 percent after the supermarket giant slashed its final dividend by 21.1 percent and posted a 17 percent fall in net profit for the full year.
Shares in Nine Entertainment, the owner of The Australian Financial Review, are soaring almost 7 percent after saying it would pay a special dividend from the sale of its stake in property listings portal Domain to US real estate giant CoStar.
Shares in Tabcorp are skyrocketing more than 23 percent after the bookmaker swung to a net profit and reported upbeat group revenues for the full year.
Shares in Worley are jumping almost 9 percent after forecasting “moderate” growth this financial year and telling investors it would use AI to improve efficiency.
Shares in Lovisa are soaring almost 18 percent after the fashion jewellery retailer delivered upbeat financial results for the full year.
Shares in Domino’s Pizza Enterprises are plunging almost 19 percent after the pizza maker reported downbeat full-year results due to heavy restructuring costs, and cut its final dividend.
In economic news, Australia’s monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) jumped 2.8 percent year-on-year in July 2025, accelerating from 1.9 percent in June and steeper than the expected 2.3 percent increase. This was the highest reading since July 2024. The annual trimmed mean inflation rose to 2.7 percent in July from 2.1 percent in June, while core inflation excluding volatile items and travel accelerated to 3.2 percent from 2.5 percent.
Total construction work in Australia rose 3.0 percent quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter of 2025, strongly recovering from a downwardly revised 0.3 percent decline in first quarter and easily exceeding market expectations of 0.7 percent growth. On an annual basis, total construction activity expanded 4.8 percent, picking up from 3.0 percent in the first quarter.
The Westpac-Melbourne Institute Leading Economic Index for Australia edged up 0.1 percent month-over-month in July 2025, after being flat in the previous month. Meanwhile, the six-month annualized growth rate ticked up to 0.12 percent from 0.01 percent, pointing to sluggish momentum in the second half of 2025 and early 2026.
Westpac projects GDP growth of 1.7 percent in 2025, up slightly from 1.3 percent in 2024, with growth only expected to return to its 2.2 percent trend pace by late 2026. Westpac expects the central bank to hold rates in September before delivering another 25bps cut in November.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.649 on Wednesday.
The Japanese stock market is modestly higher in choppy trading on Wednesday, recouping some of the losses in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is staying below the 42,400 level, with a mixed performance across all sectors.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 42,529.95, up 135.55 points or 0.32 percent, after hitting a low of 42,270.18 and a high of 42,556.83 earlier. Japanese stocks ended significantly lower on Tuesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.4 percent and Toyota is also edging down 0.3 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 4 percent and Tokyo Electron is edging up 0.4 percent, while Screen Holdings is losing almost 2 percent.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging down 0.4 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing almost 1 percent, while Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.3 percent.
Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is losing almost 1 percent and Canon is edging down 0.2 percent, while Sony is edging up 0.2 percent and Panasonic is adding more than 1 percent.
Among other major losers, BANDAI NAMCO is losing almost 3 percent.
Conversely, Nikon is surging almost 21 percent, Chugai Pharmaceutical is advancing almost 5 percent, Sumitomo Chemical is surging almost 5 percent, Yokohama Rubber is gaining almost 4 percent and JGC Holdings is adding more than 1 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 147 yen-range on Wednesday.
Elsewhere in Asia, Taiwan is up 0.9 percent, while Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are down 0.1 percent each. New Zealand, China, Hong Kong and South Korea are lower by between 0.1 and 0.2 percent each.
On the Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction throughout much of the trading session on Tuesday but managed to end the day mostly higher. The major averages all moved back to the upside after ending the previous session in negative territory.
The major averages finished the day just off their highs of the session. The Nasdaq advanced 94.98 points or 0.4 percent to 21,544.27, the S&P 500 climbed 26.62 points or 0.4 percent to 6,465.94 and the Dow rose 135.60 points or 0.3 percent at 45,418.07.
Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index plunged 1.7 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.6 percent and the German DAX Index fell by 0.5 percent.
Crude oil prices moved sharply lower on Tuesday, reflecting concerns about erratic U.S. trade policies. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery tumbled $1.55 or 2.4 percent to $63.25 a barrel.
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