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Asian stocks down on mixed US, Japan economic news
Asian stocks markets fell Wednesday, with trading thinned by year-end holidays and mixed economic news out of the U.S. and Japan.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell marginally to 8,436.24. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.6 percent to 18,510.73, while South Korea’s Kospi lost 1 percent to 1,824.59. Australia’s S&P ASX 200 lost 1.2 percent to 4,089. Benchmarks in mainland China, Singapore, Taiwan and Indonesia were also lower.
Bucking the trend was the New Zealand NZX 50, which rose 0.4 percent to 3,228.99. Falling between the Christmas holiday and New Year’s, trading throughout the region was generally light.
Japan’s industrial output dropped a seasonally adjusted 2.6 percent last month _ the first decline in two months. But the negative news was mitigated by expectations of rebounding manufacturing and production this month and next.
On Wall Street on Tuesday, the Dow Jones lost less than 0.1 percent to close at 12,291.35. The S&P 500 was up marginally to 1,265.43. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.3 percent to 2,625.20.
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