TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were trading mostly lower Thursday as investors turned their attention to upcoming earnings reports and other economic indicators.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 shed 1.1% in morning trading to 27,507.65. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.3% to 7,214.90. South Korea’s Kospi fell nearly 0.8% to 2,476.08. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was virtually unchanged, inching up less than 0.1% to 20,277.01. The Shanghai Composite slipped less than 0.1% to 3,312.22.
While efforts to cool inflation by raising interest rates are designed to slow overheated economies, the worry is that central bank policymakers might overdo it, leading to recession.
Many regional economies are seeing weakness in exports due to softer demand in major markets like the United States. That has dulled the impact of a rebound in China as its economy recovers from pandemic-related disruptions.
Stocks on Wall Street mostly slipped Wednesday following the latest signals that the U.S. economy is slowing under the weight of much higher interest rates.
The S&P 500 dipped 0.2% to 4,090.38 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% to 33,482.72. But the Nasdaq composite dropped 1.1% to 11,996.86.
One report from the Institute for Supply Management said that growth in the U.S. services sector slowed last month by more than economists expected, as the pace of new orders cooled. A separate report suggested private employers added 145,000 jobs in March, down sharply from February’s 261,000. Perhaps more importantly for markets, pay raises also weakened for workers, according to the ADP Research Institute.