Stocks in Asia Pacific are mostly down after a more-than-expected US inflation report

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SINGAPORE – Most stocks in the Asia-Pacific region fell in trading on Wednesday after the higher-than-expected US inflation report released overnight.

The Shanghai Composite Index in mainland China is down 0.82% in the afternoon while the Shenzhen component is down 0.379%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index is down 0.58%.

In Japan, Nikkei 225 is down 0.27% while Topix is ​​flat. South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.35%.

Meanwhile, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index is up 0.12%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.28%.

In other developments, Singapore’s economy grew 14.3% year-on-year in the second quarter, official advanced estimates showed on Wednesday. That was slightly above economists’ expectations for a 14.2% year-on-year jump, according to a Reuters poll.

However, Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry said the economy shrank by 2% compared to the previous quarter.

Singapore’s Straits Times Index was down 0.18% in trading Wednesday.

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Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 107.39 points to 34888.79 while the S&P 500 fell 0.35% to 4,369.21. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.38% to 14677.65.

The losses nationwide came after the US Labor Department reported on Tuesday that inflation in June rose at its fastest pace in nearly 13 years. Consumer prices rose 5.4% in June from a year earlier — the largest monthly increase since August 2008.

New Zealand dollar jumps

The New Zealand dollar jumped 1% on Wednesday to $0.7015. The gains came after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand announced a cut in the current level of monetary stimulus, with halting additional asset purchases under its large-scale asset purchase program by July 23.

The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 92.723 after the recent rally from the 92.4 low.

The Japanese yen was trading at 110.48 per dollar, weaker than the levels around 110 per dollar seen earlier in the week. The Australian dollar was trading at $0.7458, below levels around $0.75 seen yesterday.

Oil prices fell in Asian afternoon trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures down 0.31% to $76.25 a barrel. US crude futures fell 0.43 percent to $74.93 a barrel.

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