Asian Markets Mixed on Caution Over Costs From Tariff Hikes

Asian markets turned mixed on Wednesday as traders mulled over the impact of tariffs on corporate America, after big industrial companies admitted that they were facing rising costs.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 0.4 percent to 22,091.18 as a private survey pointed to a recovery in manufacturing in October. The Shanghai Composite index, which closed more than 2 percent lower on Tuesday, added 0.5 percent to 2,608.14. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 0.3 percent to 25,265.15 and the Kospi in South Korea gave up 0.4 percent to 2,097.58. Australia’s S&P-ASX 200 lost 0.2 percent to 5,829.00. Shares were lower across the region apart from in Singapore.

U.S. indexes fell on Tuesday following a broad-sell off on softening growth in China and fears that tariff hikes are beginning to hurt corporate earnings. The S&P 500 index suffered its fifth straight loss, dropping 0.6 percent to 2,740.69. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.5 percent to 25,191.43 and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.4 percent to 7,437.54. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks was 0.8 percent lower at 1,526.59.

Benchmark U.S. crude added 11 cents to $66.54 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 7 cents to settle at $66.43 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, gained 29 cents to $76.73 per barrel. In the previous session, it dropped $3.39 to $76.44 a barrel.

The dollar strengthened to 112.48 yen from 112.42 yen on Tuesday. The euro eased to $1.1463 from $1.1473.