Asian stock markets fall

Asia-Pacific markets were mostly lower on Wednesday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.05 percent and the Hang Seng Technology Index lost 1.16 percent, led by healthcare and industrials shares. Mainland Chinese markets also extended losses since Tuesday, with the Shanghai Composite Index down 0.63 percent and the Shenzhen Component Index down marginally. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 1.08 percent and the Topix fell 0.54 percent, even as business sentiment among the country’s manufacturers turned positive for the first time in 2023, according to a survey. South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.26 percent and the Kosdaq fell 0.38 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.43 percent. New Zealand shares reversed losses, while the New Zealand dollar strengthened against the U.S. dollar after the country’s central bank raised its benchmark policy rate to 5.5 percent, in line with economists’ expectations. The S&P/NZX 50 Gross Index rose 0.17 percent after the move. The country also saw retail sales volumes fall 4.1 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the second consecutive quarterly contraction after a 4 percent drop in the quarter ended December.