Asian Shares Broadly Down, Tracking U.S. Weakness

Shares in Asia were broadly lower early Wednesday, tracking declines on Wall Street that followed disappointing earnings reports and weak economic data, with Australia leading the region downward.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average reversed early losses to trade flat, Korea's Kospi was 1.4% lower, New Zealand's NZX 50 dropped 1.5%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 0.8% and the Shanghai Composite Index was off 0.4%.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slid 1.8% to its lowest level in a month, led by financial and commodity stocks, as economic data boosted the local dollar. Australia's third-quarter consumer-price index, released early Wednesday, was up 0.7% from the second quarter and 1.3% from a year earlier, beating the expected 0.5% and 1.1%, respectively. The Australian currency gained 0.6% against the dollar following the data release, weighing on exporters.

"I don't think it's going to surprise anyone, this number, but certainly the idea is now that rate cuts are off the table," said Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG Markets.

Australia's financial stocks were down markedly, with Commonwealth Bank of Australia falling 1.7%, National Australia Bank off 1.5% and Westpac Banking and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group both 1.3% lower. Those four account for roughly a third of the benchmark index.

"There is concern about holding bank equity today and that may be a reflection of the outlook for dividends for the banks," said Mr. Weston.

Elsewhere, share markets were hit by weak earnings in the U.S., where Under Armour shares fell 13% after the athletic-apparel maker tempered its growth expectations and Whirlpool dropped 11% after the company said sales and profit fell more than expected. The Nasdaq fell 0.5% on Tuesday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 0.3%.

Overnight, Apple notched its third consecutive quarterly earnings decline and a 9% drop in revenue from a year earlier; its shares were down more than 2% in after-hours trading. Taiwanese technology companies, many of which are key suppliers to Apple, felt the pain. Wistron Corp. was down 1.3%, underperforming the main Taiex index, which fell 0.2%, and chip giant TSMC was down 1%.

Additionally, consumer-confidence data out of the U.S. suggested that households there remain cautious in a year of lagging growth and looming presidential elections. The U.S. Conference Board said Tuesday its index of consumer confidence dropped to 98.6 in October from 103.5 in September. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected 101.2.

Oil prices slipped lower, hurting energy stocks across the region. Brent, the global crude-oil benchmark, was recently down 1.1% at $50.23 a barrel. In Australia, Santos was down 3.1%, Oil Search fell 2.9% and Woodside Petroleum declined 2.1%. Among Hong Kong-traded shares, Chinese offshore oil giant Cnooc and oil refiner Sinopec both shed 2.2%. In Japan, oil explorer Inpex Cop. was off 1.6%.

Looking ahead, traders are zeroing in on next month's U.S. presidential election and coming global central bank meetings.

According to CME Group's FedWatch tool, the probability of a Federal Reserve rate increase in December has risen to 78.5%, up from 73.7% on Tuesday.

"I feel we're having the calm before the storm," said Christoffer Moltke-Leth, director of global sales trading at Saxo Capital Markets. "We have huge risk events coming up."

Saumya Vaishampayan, Ira Iosebashvili, Kosaku Narioka and Akane Otani contributed to this article.

Write to Ese Erheriene at ese.erheriene@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 26, 2016 01:15 ET (05:15 GMT)

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