SINGAPORE —Stocks in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Wednesday trade, with tech shares in the region monitored following overnight declines for the sector on Wall Street.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.59% while the Topix index also gained 1.4%. South Korea's Kospi added 1.34%.
Shares in Australia rose, with the S&P/ASX 200 up 1.72% to close at 6,449.70.
Mainland Chinese stocks were mixed. The Shanghai composite was above the flatline while the Shenzhen component declined 1.214%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was 0.3% higher.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.47% higher.
China tech shares take a hit
Tech shares in the region were watched after their counterparts on Wall Street saw declines overnight. Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese tech firms were among the hardest hit in Wednesday trade.
Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Tencent dropped 8.13% and 4.87%, respectively. JD.com also fell 7.32% while Meituan declined 5.73%.
That came after China's State Administration for Market Regulation on Tuesday announced a set of draft guidelines aimed at curbing monopolistic behavior on internet platforms. The broader Hang Seng Tech index fell 5.04%.
Elsewhere in Japan, shares of conglomerate Softbank Group slipped 2.21%. Over in South Korea, industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics saw its stock gain more than 1.5%.
Hong Kong-Singapore 'travel bubble'
Quarantine-free leisure travel between Hong Kong and Singapore will start on Nov. 22, according to details of a bilateral air travel bubble announced Wednesday.
Still, shares of major airlines that may benefit from the move were mixed in Wednesday trade. Cathay Pacific in Hong Kong nudged 0.16% higher while Singapore Airlines's stock in Singapore dipped 0.51%. Shares in both airlines had surged around 14% each on Tuesday.
Coronavirus in focus
Investor focus likely remained on the coronavirus situation, following a positive announcement on Monday by Pfizer and BioNTech regarding a potential vaccine. Still, the number of cases globally continued to rise rapidly.
"A rotation theme remains evident in equity markets," Rodrigo Catril, a currency strategist at National Australia Bank, wrote in a note. The recent vaccine development from Pfizer and BioNTech has "triggered a reassessment of the outlook for next year," he said.
"Big tech which has benefited from our virus driven change in behaviour (working from home a primary example) is now falling out of favour while small cap stocks and those that have been most affected by social distancing restrictions have outperformed," Catril said.
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 92.697 after rising from levels below 92.4 earlier this week.
The Japanese yen traded at 105.17 per dollar, still off levels below 104.3 against the greenback seen earlier in the week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7308, higher than levels below $0.72 seen last week.
Oil prices were higher in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 0.8% to $43.96 per barrel. U.S. crude futures added 0.85% to $41.71 per barrel.
— CNBC's Karen Gilchrist contributed to this report.
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November 11, 2020 at 06:39AM
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Asia-Pacific stocks mixed as Chinese tech shares slip - CNBC
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