Major Asian stock market indexes finished Wednesday in negative territory. The Hang Seng Index slid down by 1.74%, while the Shanghai Composite shed 0.01%. The Nikkei 225 lost 0.9%, the S&P/ASX 200 decreased by 1.51%, and the KOSPI declined by 1.62%. The Shenzhen Composite added 0.38%.
Asian indexes followed the US markets, which declined amid rising expectations of an interest rate hike in September. Investors are worried that monetary tightening by major central banks around the world could lead to an economic slowdown. Rising energy prices have sent inflation skywards.
Furthermore, market players analyzed the latest Chinese trade data. In August, Chinese exports increased by 7.1% to $314.92 billion year-over-year, while imports rose by 0.3% to 235.53 billion. However, these data fell short of market expectations – exports and imports were forecast to increase by 12.8% and 1.1% respectively.
In August, China's trade surplus decreased to $79.39 billion, the lowest level in three months and well below the all-time high of $101.26 billion recorded in July. Economists expected trade surplus to decrease to $82.7 billion.
The worst performing Chinese stocks were Baidu, Inc. (-4.15%), Budweiser Brewing, Co. APAC, Ltd. (-3.7%), and Alibaba Health Information Technology, Ltd. (-3.5%).
Shares of Tencent Holdings, Ltd. went down by 2% following reports that the Chinese company acquired a stake in Ubisoft Entertainment SA, the maker of the Assassin's Creed video game franchise.
The Australian economy increased by 0.9% in April-June 2022 quarter-over-quarter and 3.6% year-over-year, largely matching expectations. Economists expected the Australian economy to advance by 0.9% q/q and 3.5% y/y.
However, stocks of major Australian companies decreased, with BHP and Rio Tinto losing 2.1% and 1.5% respectively.
In Japan, the worst performing stocks on the Nikkei 225 were Nippon Yusen K.K. (7.3%), Sharp, Corp., (6.5%), and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd., (6.1%).
Shares of Fast Retailing and Nissan Motor added 0.5% and 2.3% respectively.
In South Korea, the KOSPI declined as the share price of the country's largest companies fell. Samsung Electronics decreased by 1.9%, while Hyundai Motor went down by 0.5%.
