Equities in Asia were mixed on Wednesday as oil prices fell after a surprise build in U.S. stocks and China data came in mostly in line with expectations. Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 0.21 percent and South Korea's benchmark Kospi index edged lower by 0.2 percent. The S&P/ASX 200 surged 1.07 percent, with most sub-indexes trading higher, led by the strength in the information technology sub-index. Greater China markets were in the red after the release of economic data earlier in the session. The Hang Seng Index was off by 0.29 percent. On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite edged down by 0.58 percent and the Shenzhen Composite was 0.05 percent lower. Data from China reflected that factory output for the month of May pipped expectations, as did retail sales. However, fixed-asset investment in the world's second-largest economy came in below expectations. Investors are also waiting for the Federal Reserve to announce its decision on monetary policy in the U.S., due at 2 a.m. HK/SIN on Thursday. Shares of Toshiba were under pressure after the company gave notice that compensatory damages had been filed against it due to "accounting issues." Toshiba also said in the notice that more than 43 billion yen ($399 million) of damages were sought. The company could also postpone filing its annual report, Reuters quoted Japanese media as saying. Even with news this morning that South Korean chip maker SK Hynix had joined the fray in bidding for Toshiba's semiconductor arm, shares of the latter were down 3.89 percent. Oil prices took a beating on reports from the American Petroleum Institute (API) that crude stocks had risen instead of drawing down as expected. Brent crude futures tumbled 0.82 percent to trade at $48.32 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.99 percent to trade at $46.00. The API estimates are followed by official data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday. The two sets of figures often diverge. The dollar was softer against a basket of rival currencies, with the dollar index trading at 96.961 at 11:50 a.m. HK/SIN compared to levels around the 97.1 level seen in the previous session. Dollar/yen was mostly flat at 110.04, after the pair slipped below the 110 handle earlier in the week. The Canadian dollar continued to trade around three-month highs, with the greenback last fetching 1.3222 Canadian dollars. Cable was mostly steady at $1.2746 after slipping to levels around the $1.26 handle earlier this week on political uncertainty in the U.K. "Regardless of the current upside gains, the British pound remains vulnerable to heavy losses with the outlook tilted to the downside as political instability in the U.K. weighs heavily on the currency," FXTM Research Analyst Lukman Otunuga said in a Tuesday evening note. The hung parliament result following the U.K. election might have prompted optimism for a softer Brexit, but the sterling remained "overshadowed" by instability in Westminster, Otunuga added. In New Zealand, the current account deficit widened to NZ$8.13 billion in the first quarter on year, compared to a gap of NZ$7.28 billion seen. The kiwi dipped 0.15 percent to 0.7210 to the dollar after the data. The New Zealand dollar last traded at $0.7217. Over in the U.S., stocks closed higher, with big name tech stocks bouncing back after a two-day slide. Source: CNBC
