FX.co ★ Asian indices decline in Wednesday's trading

Asian indices are showing a decline in trading on Wednesday. Thus, the Shanghai Composite index dropped by 1.00%, the Hang Seng index plummeted by 1.54%. Other indicators of the region also declined: the KOSPI was down by 0.78% and the Nikkei 225 index declined by 0.23%, while the S&P/ASX 200 index rose slightly by 0.07%.

The downtrend in the Asian markets is triggered by the number of coronavirus cases in China has once again increased. The Chinese government has already imposed restrictions in some regions of the country. The issue certainly raises some worries in investors' sentiment.

At the same time, a positive factor in the Chinese economy is the joint profit of China's largest industrial companies. During several months of this year, the total revenues grew by 44.7% yearly and amounted to 6.34 trillion yuan. The income of Chinese government enterprises since the beginning of the year has grown by 77.9%, and private companies' income has increased by 30.7%. In the previous month, corporate profits rose by 16.3% although the indicator has been showing a decline for seven months.

Shares of Tencent fell by 3.2%, Alibaba dropped by 3.1% and Meituan shares were down by 4.1% showing the largest decline on Chinese exchanges. Also, the share prices of Xiaomi Corp. plummeted by 2.5%, CNOOC, Ltd. declined by 2.3%.

On the Japanese stock exchange, the situation is as follows: the value of securities of Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. increased by 0.6%, while SoftBank Group Corp., on the contrary, decreased by 3.5%. Shares of carmakers Toyota Motor Corp. rose by 0.8%, while shares of other industry representatives fell in price: Mitsubishi Motors Corp. by 0.5%, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. by 1.4%, and Mazda Motor Corp. by 1.3%.

The South Korean indicator was followed by a decline of SK Hynix Inc. securities by 0.5% and Samsung Electronics by 1.4%, while Hyundai Motor Co, Ltd., and Kia Corp. shares went up by 0.2% and 0.7%, respectively.

Investors are waiting for statistical data from Australia. The inflation rate declined to 3% from 3.8%, contrary to experts' forecasts suggesting a slowdown to 3.1%.

Despite a slight rise in the Australian index, shares of Rio Tinto, Ltd. decreased by 1.9%, and BHP Group, Ltd. fell by 1,6%.