By Alex Ho
Investing.com - Asian markets were mixed on Wednesday morning, as Japanese stocks outperformed its regional peers following the release of data that showed the country's exports fell less than expected last month
Provisional data released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance on Wednesday showed a 1% drop in exports year-on-year in February, less than the 4.3% predicted by analysts.
The Nikkei 225 rose 1.83% by 11:30 PM ET (3:30 GMT) whilst neighbouring South Korea’s KOSPI is down by 0.48%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.1%. China’s Shanghai Composite was up 0.85% and the Shenzhen Component gained 1.10%.
Australia’s ASX 200 reversed its gains yesterday by losing 4.93%.
Stock markets continued to see saw but may find some support from fiscal stimulus being deployed by central banks.
In the U.S., as much as $1 trillion could be pumped into the economy, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said overnight. This could include direct payments to Americans not unlike the HK$10,000 ($1,288) that Hong Kong proposed last month to all permanent residents.
Overnight, the tech heavy NASDAQ Composite led gains and closed up 6.23%, the Dow 30 rose 5.20% increase and the S&P 500 gained 5.39%.
“This is a little bit unlike anything else we’ve had before because of the unknown length and the unknown implications of it,” JJ Kinahan, TD Ameritrade’s chief market strategist, told Bloomberg. “We’ll “continue to see these crazy swings.”
“It’s pretty clear that there is potentially more downside to come,” Henrik Johnsson, Deutsche Bank’s global co-head of capital markets, told Bloomberg. “This has much further to run and we’re only at the beginning of social isolation in Europe and the U.S., and the effects on the real economy are still to be felt.”