BANGKOK (AP) โ Stocks fell in Asia on Wednesday, following a decline on Wall Street a day after stocks there hit their highest level since early August.
Tokyo and Mumbai advanced, while most other major markets fell. US futures were little changed and oil prices fell.
Trading is slowing ahead of Thursday's holidays in the United States and Japan, with few data releases boosting activity.
US home sales fell more than 4% in October, while minutes from the latest policy-setting meeting of the Federal Reserve showed the central bank in a holding pattern as it assesses the impact of its aggressive interest rate hikes on inflation and the broader economy.
An update on durable goods orders and a consumer confidence survey conducted by the University of Michigan will be released Wednesday.
Asia is also relatively quiet on the data front.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 rose 0.3% to 33,450.18 and Seoul's Kospi fell 0.1% to 2,508.55.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng lost 0.1% to 17,720.18, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.3% to 3,059.16.
Shares in troubled property developer Sunac China Holding rose 3.8% as state media reported it had completed a restructuring of its $90 billion in debts. This followed reports that the government was urging lenders to facilitate the provision of finance on easier terms to developers on the so-called "white list".
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.1% to 7,069.50. Shares also fell in Taiwan and Thailand, while the Sensex in Mumbai rose 0.1%.
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% to 4,538.19, just its third loss in the last 17 days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% to 35,088.29 and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.6% to 14,199.98.
Retailers were mixed after several reported their earnings for the latest quarter and, more importantly, their forecasts for the upcoming holiday shopping season. Lowe's sank 3.1% despite reporting better earnings in the latest quarter.
Best Buy fell 0.7% after also beating analysts' profit expectations in the latest quarter, but missing revenue and cutting its full-year forecast. Its chief executive, Corie Barry, said customer demand has been "more uneven and difficult to predict".
However, Dick's Sporting Goods rose 2.2% after reporting higher third-quarter earnings and revenue than analysts expected as customers bought more in each transaction and made more total purchases. It raised its profit forecasts for the entire year.
Stocks have recently gained by rising hope inflation has cooled enough make the Federal Reserve's next step on interest rates a cut rather than an increase. The Federal Reserve's main interest rate is at its highest level since 2001 as it tries to slow the economy and hurt investment prices enough to quell inflation without causing a painful recession.
Deutsche Bank expects the US economy to fall into a mild recession in early 2024 and the Federal Reserve to begin cutting rates in June. The rest of Wall Street is divided on whether a recession could occur as the labor market and inflation slow under the weight of high rates and yields.
The 10-year Treasury yield was steady at 4.42%, where it was late Monday. Just a few weeks ago, it was above 5%, its highest level since 2007 and undercutting the prices of stocks and other investments.
In other trading, benchmark U.S. crude oil lost 7 cents to $77.70 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost 6 cents to $77.77 on Tuesday.
Brent crude, the international standard, lost 9 cents to $82.36 a barrel.
The US dollar weakened to 148.30 Japanese yen from 148.39 yen late Tuesday. The euro rose to $1.0914 from $1.0912.
AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.
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