Japan trade data takes center stage | Wilnesh News

Asia-Pacific markets opened mixed on Wednesday, following losses on Wall Street and a ninth straight day of losses for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Asian investors will assess Japan’s trade data, due later in the day ahead of the Bank of Japan’s interest rate decision this week.

Economists polled by Reuters expected the country’s exports to rise 2.8% year-on-year in November. Imports are expected to grow by 1%.

Japanese Nikkei 225 Index Futures showed that the market opened lower, with the Chicago futures contract at 39,340 points and the Osaka futures contract at 39,270 points, compared with the previous closing price of 39,364.68 points.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 opened flat.

Hongkong Hang Seng Index Index futures were at 19,872 points, higher than the Hang Seng Index’s last closing point of 19,700.5 points.

Traders are awaiting Friday’s announcement on the People’s Bank of China’s preferential lending rate. The one-year LPR affects corporate loans and most household loans in China, while the five-year LPR is the benchmark for mortgage rates.

In the United States on Tuesday, the blue-chip Dow Jones recorded nine consecutive days of losses for the first time since 1978.

The average price of 30 shares fell 267.58 points, or 0.61%, to close at 43,449.90 points. The S&P 500 Index fell 0.39% to close at 6,050.61 points; the Nasdaq Index fell 0.32% to close at 20,109.06 points.

The Dow closed above 45,000 for the first time earlier this month and began a day of consecutive losses even as the broader market performed well.

The S&P 500 hit a new high on December 6 and is currently within 1% of that level. The Nasdaq hit a record high on Monday.

Driving the Dow’s decline was some old-economy stocks that rose in November as Donald Trump secured his historic election victory, while investors turned to technology stocks and some older-economy stocks.

—CNBC’s Brian Evans and Samantha Subin contributed to this report.