Asia-Pacific markets mostly rise after Wall Street rally pauses

Asia-Pacific markets traded mostly higher Wednesday after Wall Street halted its six-day win streak.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.23% after the country reported that exports slowed for a second straight month as the country reels under U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.58% while the small-cap Kosdaq traded 0.95% higher.

Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.43%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.45% at the open, while mainland China’s CSI 300 traded flat.

The Bank of Indonesia is also slated to release its policy decision later in the day. The bank slashed policy rates in September 2024, and then again in January 2025, but has kept rates on hold at 5.75% since, HSBC noted in a report.

“Given growth weakness, Bank of Indonesia may have to embark on a deep rate-cutting cycle,” the bank wrote.

“For several reasons, we believe it’s time to restart the easing cycle in May,” the bank’s economists said, citing weak first-quarter GDP growth and weakening currency against the greenback.

U.S. futures were little changed. S&P 500 futures wavered Tuesday night following a losing session on Wall Street that snapped a winning streak. Futures tied to the broad index shed 0.2%, as did Nasdaq 100 futures. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost 93 points, or 0.2%.

Overnight stateside, the three major averages closed lower. Stocks slipped on Tuesday as the big tech-led rally lost steam and the S&P 500 ended a six-day winning run.

The S&P 500 fell 0.39% to end at 5,940.46, while the Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.38% and closed at 19,142.71. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 114.83 points, or 0.27%, finishing at 42,677.24. Investors dumped tech stocks, which had led the run over the past six days. The sector lost 0.5%. Nvidia slid 0.9%. Advanced Micro Devices, Meta Platforms, Apple and Microsoft also dropped.

— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.