The momentum in Japan markets were largely driven by the country’s technology and financial sector.
This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.
Asia-Pacific stock markets mostly fell Wednesday, tracking losses on Wall Street as the U.S. postelection rally stalled overnight.
Asian traders assessed corporate goods data out of Japan, which showed year-on-year producer price growth, or wholesale inflation, in October reached its highest since July last year at 3.4%.
That was higher than the 3% growth expected by economists polled by Reuters, and the 2.8% rise in September.
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Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.66% to end at 38,721.66, while the Topix declined 1.21% to 2,708.42.
South Korea's Kospi fell 2.64% to finish at 2,417.08, while the Kosdaq Index lost 2.94% to end 689.65.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.75% to end at 8,193.4.
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Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 0.45% as of its last hour of trade, while mainland China's CSI 300 rose 0.62% to close at 4,110.89.
Investors have been assessing what the re-election of Donald Trump in the U.S. could mean for Chinese equities and Beijing's stimulus policy.
Overnight in the U.S., stocks fell with both the tech-heavy Nasdaq and the S&P 500 snapping five-day win streaks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 382.15 points, or 0.86%, to 43,910.98, while the S&P 500 fell 0.29% to close at 5,983.99. The Nasdaq Composite ended the session marginally lower at 19,281.40.
Small-cap stocks, perceived as possible beneficiaries of Donald Trump's return as U.S. president, were largely under pressure, with the Russell 2000 sliding about 1.8%.
— CNBC's Brian Evans and Alex Harring contributed to this report.
U.S. crypto sector to benefit from softer regulation under Trump, says BTC Markets CEO
Caroline Bowler, CEO of BTC Markets, told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" that Donald Trump's election victory in the U.S. was likely to see Gary Gensler, chairperson of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, replaced.
The industry has been "rooting for him to be removed," for practicing "regulation by enforcement," Bowler said.
Under the Trump administration softer regulation of the market is expected to boost adoption and attract more crypto activity to the country, she added.
— Dylan Butts
Shares of SoftBank-backed Indian food delivery giant Swiggy soar over 15% on debut
Shares of Indian food delivery giant Swiggy soared as much as 15.12% on their trading debut Wednesday after a stellar IPO — the country's second-largest this year.
The SoftBank-backed company raised 113.27 billion Indian rupees ($1.34 billion) in its IPO that closed Monday, pricing its shares at 390 rupees apiece. The IPO was reportedly oversubscribed more than three times, according to Indian business outlet Mint.
Read the full story here.
— Lim Hui Jie
Samsung Electronics shares hit a more than 4-year low
Shares of Samsung hit a more than 4-year low on Wednesday, making the South Korean chipmaker one of the worst-preforming major semiconductor stocks this year.
The world's top memory chipmaker has lagged behind rivals TSMC, Nvidia and SK Hynix as it struggles to tap booming demand for artificial intelligence chips.
The poor performance also comes as Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential elections casts uncertainty over U.S. chip policy and tariffs on American chip imports.
Shares in the company were down nearly 4% on the day and more than 35% year to date, according to LSEG data.
— Dylan Butts
CNBC Pro: This SpaceX-competitor's stock has bounced back postelection and analysts love it
Shares of a satellite startup have made a strong comeback, regaining their losses following President-elect Donald Trump's recent victory.
The company's stock tanked by about 10% in the two days after the U.S. elections as investors feared the company might be disadvantaged due to Musk's close relationship with the new U.S. administration.
But analysts say the company currently has "superior technology" compared to SpaceX's Starlink.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Ganesh Rao
Australia third-quarter wage growth misses expectations
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported a seasonally adjusted wage growth of 0.8% for the third quarter, compared to the previous quarter.
That was unchanged from the previous two quarters, but was shy of the 0.9% increase estimated by economists polled by Reuters.
On an year-on-year basis wages grew 3.5% during the quarter, marginally lower than estimates of a 3.6% growth.
— Dylan Butts
CNBC Pro: Morgan Stanley fund manager picks stocks to play Trump's win
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's election win has sent shock waves through the stock market and left investors scrambling to work out which sectors — and stocks — are set to benefit.
Aaron Dunn, portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley's U.S. Value Fund, noted the "great deal of volatility" in markets following the election result, as markets reprice "what had been a 50/50 election."
Speaking to CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" on Tuesday, Dunn, who's also co-head of value equity at Morgan Stanley, identified three stocks he is betting on following the election result.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Amala Balakrishner
Stocks close lower, postelection climb exhales
Stocks closed lower on Tuesday, as Wall Street pauses from a postelection rally.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.29% to close at 5,983.99, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.09% to 19,281.40. The Dow Jones Industrial Average pulled back 382.15 points, or 0.86%, to finish the session at 43,910.98.
— Brian Evans
Three quarters of all NYSE stocks are falling Tuesday; 63% of Nasdaq in retreat
Roughly three quarters of all the stocks on the New York Stock Exchange are down in price Tuesday (2,090 out of 2,824 traded), while on the Nasdaq the percentage of declining stocks is about 63% (2,770 out of 4,388), according to FactSet data.
Measured by share volume, decliners on the NYSE account for some 71% of the total while on the Nasdaq, losers account for roughly 59.5% of all shares changing hands.
Still, because of the stock market's recent march to all-time highs by most measures, the number of new 52-week highs reached 177 on the NYSE vs 66 new 52-week lows. On the Nasdaq, new highs topped new lows by 257 to 141.
Total composite volume was far lighter than usual Tuesday on the NYSE, reaching about 70% of the past 30 days' average in late day trading, against more than 95% of the average on Nasdaq.
— Scott Schnipper
Small caps pull back following postelection rally
Small-cap stocks took an outsized hit on Tuesday after running up in a postelection rally.
The small cap-focused Russell 2000 slipped 1.4% during the session. That put the index on track to give up around all of its gain seen in the previous day.
By comparison, the broad S&P 500 slipped just around 0.1% in Tuesday trading.
Small-cap stocks have been viewed as winners during a second Donald Trump term because they can benefit from less regulation. Notably, the Russell 2000 is up about 6% compared with one week ago.
— Alex Harring
'Unwind risks' for stocks are rising, Citi says
The postelection excitement for investors may be setting up the market for a short-term pullback, according to Citi.
The investment firm's quantitative research team said in a note to clients that the current positioning in the stock market is "extended" and that "unwind risks are building for both the S&P 500 and Russell 2000."
"S&P positioning is currently at the highest level witnessed in the past 3 years, with positioning levels also extended across Nasdaq and Russell 2000. Profits are elevated for both S&P and Russell and this could lead to near-term profit-taking which may limit further upside," the note said.
— Jesse Pound
Dollar rises against major currencies
The dollar index gained 0.4% Tuesday to 105.95. Month to date, the dollar has strengthened 1.9% against the basket of six major currencies.
The greenback rose 0.5% against the Japanese yen to 154.5 yen. This marked the yen's weakest level against the dollar since July 2024.
— Hakyung Kim
