Investing.com - Asian stocks were led higher by Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index in Wednesday afternoon trading session.
The Dow and the S&P 500 snapped their six-session winning streak overnight as Walmart (NYSE:WMT) reported slowing online sales growth and saw its shares plunge 10.18%, its biggest drop in 30 years. The dollar’s momentum continued as yields on U.S. treasury debt rose to four-year high.
The Nikkei opened lower but recovered from its early slip and gained 0.32% at the close. The yen continued its retreat from recent highs thanks to higher U.S. treasury yields and was cited as supportive for Japanese equities.
Meanwhile, mainland Chinese markets remained closed for Lunar New Year holiday, while the Hang Seng Index opened higher in the morning and extended its gain in the afternoon, trading 1.14% higher by 1:20am ET.
In Korea, Lotte Holdings made headlines as its head Shin Dong-bin has reportedly offered to quit as chairman at its Japan-based holding firm, following his arrest for bribery earlier this month.
Elsewhere, the S&P/ASX 200 saw very limited volatility and closed 0.05% higher, but index heavyweight BHP Billiton fell 4.8% as investors responded to the softer tone set in London market overnight following the release of their results report. The Aussie eased 0.23% against the dollar at 0.7865 after the release of a weaker-than-expected construction data. Q4 wage data on the other hand reported 0.6% QoQ instead of the anticipated 0.5%.
News flow in Asia morning remained light otherwise, as investors await minutes from the most recent meetings of the Federal Reserve, which are due later today.