A MLB store in the Myeongdong shopping district in Seoul, South Korea, on Saturday, March 9, 2024.
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SINGAPORE — Asia-Pacific markets opened lower Wednesday morning, following a poor start to the trading month on Wall Street that saw major indexes fall amid rising Middle East tensions.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 opened down 0.1%. South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.1% at the open, while the small-cap Kosdaq was down 0.8%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 started the trading day lower by 1.7%, while the Topix was down 0.9%.
On Tuesday, new Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba took office following his election as head of the country’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party last week. He succeeded Prime Minister Fumio Kishida who formally stepped down earlier in the day.
Ishida’s ascension could give the Bank of Japan more scope to raise interest rates further, according to some analysts.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures were at 20,768, lower than the HSI’s last close of 21,133.68. Markets in Mainland China were closed Wednesday and will remain closed for the rest of the week due to the Golden Week holiday.
Traders in Asia were assessing data on consumer inflation out of South Korea. The country’s consumer price index rose 1.6% in September from a year earlier, data showed Wednesday morning, cooler than expected by economists polled by Reuters who expected a rate of 1.9%. The figure was up by 0.1% on a monthly basis, less than the gains of 0.4% in the previous month and the 0.3% expected by economists.
According to a survey from S&P Global released Wednesday, South Korea’s factory activity contracted at its fastest pace in 15 months in September as overseas demand slowed for the first time this year. The purchasing managers index for manufacturers stood at 48.3 in September, down from 51.9 a month prior.
In the U.S. overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 173 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.93% and 1.53%, respectively. Oil prices and the CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) jumped as Iran fired ballistic missiles at Israel. The attack followed Israel’s start of a ground operation into Lebanon as tensions escalated with Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran’s missile attacks had failed and vowed retaliation. “Iran made a big mistake tonight — and it will pay for it,” he said, according to NBC News, adding “the regime in Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies.”
—CNBC’s Brian Evans and Alex Harring contributed to this report.
