Asian shares mixed on renewed jitters over trade friction

TOKYO – Asian shares were mixed on Wednesday, as Japan’s benchmark took a rest from a spate of recent jumps. Worries over a resurgence of trade tensions overshadowed regional markets.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.8 per cent to finish at 23,940.78, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was flat at 32,937.16. The Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1 per cent higher to 3,548.02 and South Korea’s Kospi gained less than 0.1 per cent to 2,538.00. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3 per cent to 6,054.70. Shares fell in Taiwan and were mixed in Southeast Asia.

WALL STREET: The Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 0.2 per cent to 2,839.13 while the Dow Jones industrial average was flat at 26,210.81. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite jumped 0.7 per cent to 7,460.29. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks rose 0.3 per cent, to 1,610.71.

TECHNOLOGY RALLY: On Wall Street, Netflix, which said it picked up 8.3 million subscribers in the fourth quarter, soared $22.71, or 10 per cent, to $250.29. Facebook rose $3.98, or 2.1 per cent, to $189.35 and Google’s parent company Alphabet gained $12.01, or 1 per cent, to $1,176.17. Online retailer Amazon climbed $35.23, or 2.7 per cent, to $1,362.54.

THE QUOTE: “The leads for Asia markets remain positive, though after the record run seen on Tuesday, one would not be surprised with some profit-taking in play,” says Jingyi Pan, market strategist at IG in Singapore.

TRADE TROUBLES: President Donald Trump’s move Tuesday to tax imported solar cells and washing machines was denounced by China, Germany and Mexico and is likely to heighten tensions between the United States and its trade partners. Touchier trade cases lie ahead, involving China’s overproduction of steel and aluminum and its theft of trade secrets.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude added 1 cents to $64.48 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose 90 cents, or 1.4 per cent, to $64.47 a barrel on Tuesday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell 9 cents to $69.86.

CURRENCIES: The dollar slid to 110.01 yen from 110.32 yen late Tuesday in Asia. The euro edged up to $1.2313 from $1.2299.

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AP Markets Writer Marley Jay, who contributed to this report, can be reached at http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP

His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/marley%20jayt

Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama

Her work can be found at https://www.apnews.com/search/yuri%20kageyama