Asia report: Markets mixed as dollar dives

Markets in Asia finished mixed on Wednesday, as the dollar weakened in early trading following comments from President Donald Trump that he’d shut down the US government if he didn’t get to build his beloved border wall with Mexico.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was ahead 0.26% at 19,434.64, breaking its five-day losing streak as the safe-haven yen continued to strengthen against the dollar.

It was last ahead 0.19% at JPY 109.36.

Technology conglomerate Toshiba was up 5.2% as it began talks with Western Digital, over its protracted attempts to sell off its valuable memory chip division.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.08% at 3,287.68, and the Shenzhen Composite was off 0.33% at 1,902.00.

South Korea’s Kospi was up 0.05% at 2,366.40, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index session was cancelled as Cyclone Hato approached the special administrative region.

The cyclone had caused a level 10 typhoon warning - the most severe in the system used by Hong Kong - early in the day.

On the corporate front in Hong Kong, China Unicom entered a share subscription agreement with Unicom BVI - already the controlling shareholder of China Unicom in Hong Kong.

Under the agreement, Unicom BVI will subscribe for a maximum of 6.65 billion shares at HKD 13.24 per share.

In the US, the comments from Trump regarding the border wall sent demand for the safe-haven yen through the roof, pushing the dollar down, as spot gold also improved.

It was in contrast to a solid performance on Wall Street overnight, which was said to have come about from chatter that the White House was making progress with its tax reform proposals.

Locally, Bank Indonesia cut interest rates by 25 basis points to 4.5% in a move not anticipated by the markets.

It was the first rate cut for the island nation since last October.

Oil prices were lower during Asian trading, with Brent crude last down 0.39% at $51.67 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate down 0.21% at $47.73.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.23% at 5,737.16, led by losses in the information technology and utilities sectors, although the energy subindex posted solid gains.

Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 was ahead 0.2% at 7,879.46, led higher by dairy product and infant food exporter A2 Milk, which surged 5.9%.

The company said its annual profits had tripled to NZD 90.6m, and it was prepared to use some of its stockpiled cash to buy back shares.

A2’s board also hinted at the prospect of a special dividend.

Both of the down under dollars had turned weaker against the greenback by early European hours, with the Aussie last off 0.18% at AUD 1.2662 and the Kiwi retreating 0.71% to NZD 1.3887.