Asian share markets were trading mixed on Wednesday. Some were falling, including China's Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index, which lost 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively, as well as Japan's Nikkei 225, which dropped 0.4%. At the same time, the other indices were rising: the Australian S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.33% and the Korean KOSPI gained the most at 1.38%.
Investors are analyzing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's statements regarding further rate hikes in the US. This is due to the employment data, which showed that the labor market is in a strong position. In this regard, experts predict interest rates to continue to rise. It is negatively perceived by the markets, but it is necessary to restrain the growth of consumer prices.
Japan's Nikkei 225 fell due to weak financial statements of some major companies in the country. For example, the value of Sharp fell by 11.7%.
Nintendo shares slump by 7.3% after the company reported that net profit in the first nine months of the fiscal year through March was down 5.8%, and also after it lowered its forecast of income, profit and sales for the current fiscal year.
SoftBank Group lost 5.7% due to net loss in the third quarter of FY2022, despite the fact that the company's revenues exceeded experts' expectations.
In addition to the aforementioned companies, shares of Fast Retailing fell by 1.5%, Sony lost 0.8%, and Nissan Motor fell by 0.3%.
Meituan recorded the biggest loss at 6.8% on the Hong Kong stock exchange, while Baidu lost 4.2%.
Slightly smaller declines were posted by Geely which shed 2.5%, Xiaomi and Country Garden Holdings which each lost 2.2%, JD.com which dropped 1.5% and Alibaba which dropped 1.4%.
The Korean KOSPI was boosted by Samsung Electronics, which rose in price by 2.1%, Hyundai Motor that gained 1.4% and Posco that increased by 0.3%.
The Australian stock market was rising as it was affected by the increase in Rio Tinto and BHP shares, which added 1.05% and 0.2%, respectively.
Thanks to an increase in Suncorp's net profit by 44% over the first six months of this fiscal year, its shares rose by 4.6%. This is the highest mark for the year.