Asia-Pacific stocks mixed; China's trade data for September ahead

• Stocks in Asia-Pacific traded mixed on Wednesday morning.
• China's trade data for September is expected to be out around 11:00 a.m. HK/SIN on Wednesday.
• Morning trading of securities and derivatives at the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing is set to be cancelled on Wednesday due to bad weather.

SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific traded mixed on Wednesday morning as investors in Asia-Pacific look ahead to the release of Chinese trade data for September.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.61% while the Topix index dipped 0.43%.

Elsewhere, South Korea's Kospi advanced 0.25%. Australian stocks were also in positive territory as the S&P/ASX 200 rose fractionally.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan traded little changed.

Meanwhile, morning trading of securities and derivatives at the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing is set to be cancelled on Wednesday because of bad weather due to Typhoon Kompasu. That comes after the Hong Kong Observatory announced at around 7:45 a.m. local time that the severe weather warning "will remain in force before noon."

Oil prices slip

Oil prices were lower in the morning of Asia trading hours but remained elevated above $80 per barrel.

International benchmark Brent crude futures shed 0.43% to $83.06 per barrel. U.S. crude futures also declined 0.46% to $80.27 per barrel.

China on Tuesday announced plans to liberalize coal-fired power pricing, Reuters reported, as the country faces a energy crisis.

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Overnight stateside, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 117.72 points to 34,378.34 while the S&P 500 declined 0.24% to 4,350.65. The Nasdaq Composite shed 0.14% to around 14,465.93.

Those losses on Wall Street came after the International Monetary Fund slashed its global growth forecast for 2021, citing supply disruptions and the pandemic.

Currencies

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 94.508 after bouncing from levels below 94.2 earlier in the week.

The Japanese yen traded at 113.53 per dollar following yesterday's weakening from below 113.4 against the greenback. The Australian dollar was at $0.7331, off levels around $0.738 seen yesterday.

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