A flag of Japan flies near cargo containers at Tokyo’s Odaiba Waterfront on August 6, 2020.
BEHROUZ MEHRI | Contributor | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets are lower on Wednesday, tracking Wall Street as both the S&P500 and Nasdaq Composite snapped an eight day winning streak.
The S&P 500 slid 0.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.33%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.15%. If the S&P had held its gains for Tuesday, it would have been the broad index’s longest winning streak since 2004.
In Asia, Japan’s trade data for July saw exports rising 10.3% year on year and imports up 16.6% in the same period. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast that exports would rise 11.4%, while imports were forecast to rise 14.9%.
With exports coming in lower than expected and imports rising more than expected, Japan’s trade deficit widened to 621.84 billion yen ($4.28 billion), a larger figure than the 330.7 billion yen expected.
July will be the last month of trade data recorded before the Bank of Japan’s move to raise interest rates at the end of July, which caused the yen to strengthen dramatically.
Typically, a weaker yen benefits Japanese exporters and trading houses, heavyweights on the Nikkei 225 and whose rise have been instrumental in lifting the index to its record highs.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.75% after the data release, while the broad based Topix fell 0.54%.
South Korea’s Kospi inched down 0.18%, and the small-cap Kosdaq was 0.66% lower.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 also fell 0.28%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures were at 17,360, lower than the HSI’s last close of 17,511.08
—CNBC’s Alex Harring and Hakyung Kim contributed to this report.