Jakarta, 21 February 2024 – Asia Pacific stock markets Wednesday (21/02/2024) were mixed, while Hong Kong shares rose more than 2%.

Asia-Pacific markets were mixed following losses on Wall Street on Wednesday. investors assessed Japanese trade data and worsening business sentiment among major manufacturers.

Quoted from CNBC, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 2.04%, driven by the health sector and basic materials sector. China’s CSI 300 traded 0.14% higher.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.32% after Japanese manufacturing business confidence plunged to -1 in February, compared with the previous month’s figure of 6, according to the Reuters Tankan poll. This marks the first negative reading since last April.

The data comes less than a week after Japan plunged into a technical recession and lost its position as the third-largest global economy to Germany.

The monthly Reuters poll is considered a leading indicator of the Bank of Japan’s official survey.

South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.19%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.6%.