Sunset scene of light trails traffic speeds through an intersection in Gangnam center business district of Seoul at Seoul city, South Korea
Mongkol Chuewong | Moment | Getty Images
Singapore stocks hit a record high on Wednesday amid mixed trading in the Asia-Pacific region on Wednesday as investors digested the latest comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Powell said Tuesday that the central bank would have already cut interest rates if it weren’t for U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff initiatives.
Singapore equities climbed 0.4% to a record high of 4,005.39 points Wednesday morning, data from LSEG showed.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slid 1.32%, and the Topix lost 0.64%. South Korea’s Kospi was 0.42% lower while the Kosdaq was flat. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 inched up 0.49%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.73% while the mainland CSI 300 was flat.
U.S. stock futures were little changed early Asian hours after investors began the second half of the year with a reduced appetite for technology stocks.
Overnight stateside, the three major averages closed mixed. The S&P 500 inched down 0.11% and closed at 6,198.01, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.82% to settle at 20,202.89. The blue-chip Dow was the outlier, gaining 400.17 points, or 0.91%, to end at 44,494.94.
— CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Tanaya Macheel contributed to this report.
