Asia stocks slipped Wednesday morning as investors awaited clarity on the first phase of an agreement between the U.S. and China that would ease some tariffs.
Mainland Chinese stocks declined in early trade, with the Shanghai composite down 0.49% and the Shenzhen component shedding 0.48%. The Shenzhen composite also fell 0.271%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.36% in early trade as shares of life insurer AIA dropped 2.49%.
Japan's Nikkei 225 declined 0.82% in morning trade as shares of index heavyweight Fast Retailing fell 1.91%. The Topix index also shed 0.43%.
Shares of Japanese automaker Nissan recovered partially from an earlier plunge of around 4% but still traded more than 1% lower. The moves came after the company posted a roughly 70% year-on-year plunge in operating income for the second quarter.
Shares in Korea also saw declines, as the Kospi slipped 0.81%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.48% as the heavily-weighted financial subindex fell around 0.7%.
Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index traded 0.77% lower.
On the corporate news front, Chinese tech giant Tencent is expected to announce its quarterly earnings later on Wednesday.
Hong Kong protests
Trade deal
U.S. President Donald Trump told the Economic Club of New York on Tuesday that Beijing wants to make a trade deal, but had scant details on how talks were progressing.
The president also renewed his trade attack, calling China "cheaters," but he blamed the situation on past U.S. leaders.
"The much awaited Trump was heavy on rhetoric and light on detail, leaving markets none the wiser," Rodrigo Catril, a senior foreign-exchange strategist at National Australia Bank, wrote in a note.
Both sides are looking to hammer out the first phase of an agreement that would ease some tariffs but details of a potential deal remain in flux. The U.S. is pushing for more open markets and the elimination of intellectual property theft. China, for its part, wants Washington to drop some $250 billion in tariffs imposed since the trade war began.
Shares on Wall Street inched to record highs overnight, as the S&P 500 added 0.2% to close at 3,091.84 — touching a fresh intraday record. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.3% to finish its trading day at 8,486.09, notching intraday and closing records. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, on the other hand, closed completely unchanged at 27,691.49.
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 98.306 after touching highs around 98.4 yesterday.
The Japanese yen traded at 108.92 against the dollar after strengthening from levels above 109.2 yesterday. The
Australian dollar was at $0.6845 after dipping to levels below $0.684 in the previous session.
The New Zealand dollar jumped more than 1% to $0.6401 after the country's central bank kept the official cash rate unchanged at 1.0%.
Oil prices slipped in the morning of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures declining 0.15% to $61.97 per barrel. U.S. crude futures also shed 0.19% to $56.69 per barrel.
What's on tap:
- Hong Kong earnings: Tencent
- Japan earnings: Toshiba, Japan Display
— CNBC's Jeff Cox and Fred Imbert contributed to this report.