Negative atmosphere in Asian stock markets

Asian stocks edged lower as Wall Street’s rally stalled. Asia-Pacific stocks edged lower as Wall Street’s rally stalled and broader indexes surged near their highest closing levels since August 2022. Investors in the region also weighed economic data this week. Australian stocks edged lower after the country’s trade surplus narrowed more than expected to A$11.16 billion ($7.44 billion) in April. Japan’s Nikkei 225 edged lower from Wednesday, while the Topix was near a flat line. Japan’s annualized GDP for the first quarter was revised up to 2.7%, ahead of the 1.9% expected by economists and the 1.6% published in preliminary figures. South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.29% and Kosdaq fell 0.21%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index led losses in the region, falling 0.82 percent, while mainland Chinese markets were also in the red. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.15 percent and the Shenzhen Component Index lost more, 0.41 percent. In the U.S., all three major indexes closed mixed overnight. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell 0.38 percent and 1.29 percent respectively, while the Dow Jones gained 0.27 percent.