BANGKOK-- Asian stocks were mixed on Wednesday after Wall Street fell further from its all-time highs.
Oil prices fell while US futures rose.
Chinese stocks fell even as China's central bank governor told a high-level business conference in Beijing that the ailing property industry was showing signs of recovery and the impact of defaults by dozens of developers was limited.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 1.4% to 16,392.84 and the Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.3% to 2,993.14.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 gained 0.9% to 40,762.73 and the S&The P/ASX 200 added 0.5% to 7,819.60.
In Bangkok, the SET rose 0.3%. India's Sensex rose 0.8% and Taiwan's Taiex closed 0.4% higher.
"Traders eagerly await further guidance from Federal Reserve officials and key economic indicators from China, along with ongoing fiscal policy discussions," ActivTrades' Anderson Alves said in a commentary.
On Tuesday, the S&The P 500 fell 0.3% to 5,203.58, its third consecutive modest decline since setting an all-time high.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% to 39,282.33 and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.4% to 16,315.70.
Stock indexes rose modestly for much of the day thanks to several Big Tech stocks. Tesla rose 2.9% and Alphabet rose 0.4%. But a late drop from Nvidia ended up helping to send the market tumbling. It fell 2.5%.
Krispy Kreme soared 39.4%, after announcing a deal in which McDonald's restaurants will sell its donuts nationwide. Another food company, McCormick, rose 10.5% after reporting stronger fourth-quarter earnings than analysts expected. The seller of spices, hot sauces and condiments also said its sales are likely to be at the high end of its projections.
Trump media & Technology Group was another big booster, with a jump of 16.1%. It was the first day of operations for the company under its new symbol, "DJT," which are the initials of former President Donald Trump. The company replaced a Nasdaq-listed shell company after the two merged.
The stock price has soared far beyond what many experts consider reasonable, fueled by enthusiasm for Trump's latest bid for the White House. The company's biggest asset, Truth Social, is losing money and expects to continue doing so as it competes against rivals that likely have many more users.
United States in general stock Exchange It also faces criticism that it has become too expensive, although not as expensive as Trump Media. & Technological Group has received.
the&The P 500 is already up 9% this year and is on track to close its fifth consecutive month of gains as the economy remains resilient despite high interest rates aimed at controlling inflation. Additionally, it appears the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates this year because inflation has cooled from its peak.
But critics say a broader range of companies will need to generate strong profit growth to justify their big price moves. Progress to reduce inflation has also become bumpier lately, and this year's reports have been more positive than expected.
Still, the general expectation among traders is that the Federal Reserve will begin cutting its main interest rate in June. Some even see a slight possibility of it starting at their meeting next week.
A U.S. government report showed that orders for machinery, computers and other durable manufactured goods rose in February after two months of declines.
But a later Conference Board report said confidence among U.S. consumers unexpectedly weakened. Strong spending by American consumers has been one of the pillars keeping the economy out of a long-predicted recession.
In other trading, benchmark U.S. crude oil lost 77 cents to $80.85 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 79 cents to $84.84 a barrel.
The US dollar rose to 151.72 Japanese yen from 151.56 yen. The euro fell to $1.0825 from $1.0833.
