SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – Asian shares were mostly lower on Wednesday in a post-earnings season, mid-summer lull, as investors awaited U.S. retail sales data later in the week.
KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.2 percent to 16,735.12 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged 0.1 percent lower to 22,458.26. Australia’s S&P ASX 200 fell 0.2 percent to 5,543.70. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.2 percent to 2,046.57 and stocks in Taiwan and Singapore also were higher, but markets in China, Indonesia and New Zealand declined.
ANALYST’S TAKE: “It’s a slow grind in markets at present, which will please many in the investment community but frustrate the day traders out there,” Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG in Melbourne, Australia, said in a daily commentary. Weston said while traders are watching the moves of the dollar, oil and interest rates, they “are not at levels likely to cause any real anxiety in broader risk sentiment.”
DATA: The Japan’s government said earlier in the day that the country’s core private-sector machinery orders grew a seasonally adjusted 8.3 percent in June from May, a rebound from two straight months of decline. The data were seen as encouraging, though business investment remained weak in the April to June quarter.
WALL STREET: U.S. stocks eked out small gains on Tuesday. The Dow Jones industrial average added 0.02 percent to 18,533.05. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 0.04 percent to 2,181.74. The Nasdaq composite index gained 0.2 percent to 5,225.48. T