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Investing.com — Most Asian stocks kept to a tight range on Wednesday amid persistent concerns over a Chinese economic slowdown, while regional technology stocks saw some consolidation ahead of hotly awaited earnings from Nvidia.
Regional stocks took a , as technology stocks were pressured by rising yields and U.S. bank shares slid after a series of rating downgrades.
Concerns over China remained in play after the People’s Bank disappointed markets with a smaller-than-expected interest rate cut this week. Traders were growing increasingly impatient over more stimulus measures promised by the government.
Chinese stocks were the worst performers for the day, with the and indexes down 0.5% and 0.6%, respectively.
Anticipation of more cues on U.S. interest rates from the this week also kept traders largely wary of risk-heavy assets, while the and Treasury yields pushed higher. crossed an over 20-year high this week.
Tech stocks mixed amid higher yields, Nvidia earnings in sight
Asian tech stocks – particularly chipmakers, had shot up on Tuesday in anticipation of more cues on artificial intelligence demand from Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:).
Nvidia sank from record highs on Tuesday, but is expected to forecast much stronger revenue for the remainder of the year on the back of increasing AI development.
The world’s most valuable chipmaker will report after the closing bell on Wednesday.
Asian tech consolidated most recent gains on Wednesday, also remaining under pressure from elevated U.S. yields and fears of higher-for-longer interest rates.
Japanese chip equipment maker Advantest Corp (TYO:) slid nearly 2%, while South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix Inc (KS:) fell 1.2%. Tech conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp (TYO:) lost 1% as its .
On the other hand, positive earnings helped some support regional tech stocks. Baidu Inc’s (NASDAQ:) Hong Kong shares (HK:) surged over 4% after the Chinese search engine clocked much stronger second-quarter earnings.
Gains in Baidu helped keep the in positive territory, even as property stocks – chiefly Country Garden Holdings (HK:) – continued to see heavy sell downs.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TW:) (NYSE:) rose 1.3% after it dismissed rumors that its revenue will fall more than initially forecast this year.
Broader Asian markets kept to a tight range. Japan’s rose 0.2%, buoyed by (PMI) data showing some improvement in local business activity.
South Korea’s sank 0.4%, while futures for India’s index pointed to a marginally positive open.
Australia’s was the best performer for the day, rising 0.7% after also pointed to an improvement in manufacturing activity. A batch of strong earnings also helped support the index this week.
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