People crossing the street in Shibuya, Tokyo.
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Asia-Pacific markets fell Wednesday, tracking Wall Street declines after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that “equity prices are fairly highly valued.”
Powell also signaled that the rate-cutting path wasn’t clear and that the central bank faces a “challenging situation.”
Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 lost 0.61%. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.33%, while the Topix lost 0.35%.
South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.11%, while the small-cap Kosdaq traded 0.39% lower.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was set to open higher, with its futures contract last traded at 26,188 against the index’s previous close of 26,159.12.
Australia is set to release its inflation data for August later in the day.
Overnight stateside, the three major averages ended the trading day lower. The S&P 500 took a pause from its recent gains as doubts about the sustainability of the artificial intelligence bull trend worried investors.
The broad market index closed down 0.55% at 6,656.92 after reaching a new all-time intraday high earlier in the session and posting a record close on Monday. The Nasdaq Composite fell nearly 1% to settle at 22,573.47, with the losses led by AI names like Nvidia, Oracle and Amazon. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 88.76 points, or 0.19%, lower at 46,292.78.
— CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Pia Singh contributed to this report.