Melbourne, Australia<\/p>\n
Kieran Stone | Moment | Getty Images<\/p>\n
Asia-Pacific markets were mixed Wednesday, breaking ranks with Wall Street after the S&P 500<\/a> closed at a record high. <\/p>\n The broad market index gained 0.41% to finish at 6,978.60, supported by gains in Apple<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Microsoft<\/a>.<\/p>\n South Korea’s Kospi<\/a> and Kosdaq continued to push fresh records, gaining 1.48% and 3.42% respectively.<\/p>\n However, Japan’s Nikkei 225<\/a> slumped 0.55%, dragged by basic materials stocks, while the Topix fell 0.88%.<\/p>\n Late Tuesday, the yen<\/a> strengthened to its highest level in almost three months against the dollar, touching a low of 152.08 amid intervention expectations swirling around the currency. <\/p>\n Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index<\/a> was up 2.27%, led by energy stocks, while the CSI 300 index on mainland China rose 0.47%. <\/p>\n Australia’s\u00a0S&P\/ASX 200<\/a> reversed earlier gains and fell 0.13% to 8,929.9, snapping a three-day winning streak. Australia saw headline inflation come in at 3.6% in the last quarter of 2025, its highest level in six quarters.<\/p>\n In Southeast Asia, Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite plunged over 7.3%, after index provider MSCI had issued a statement warning of a potential downgrade of the country to frontier-market status. <\/p>\n “Investors highlighted that fundamental investability issues persist due to ongoing opacity in shareholding structures and concerns about possible coordinated trading behaviour that undermines proper price formation,” MSCI said<\/a> late Tuesday.<\/p>\n On the commodities front, spot gold prices reached a fresh record of $5,255.71 per ounce. <\/p>\n Overnight in the U.S., the\u00a0Nasdaq Composite<\/a>\u00a0climbed 0.91%, while the\u00a0Dow Jones Industrial Average<\/a>\u00a0broke ranks, losing 408.99 points, or 0.83%, and settling at 49,003.4.<\/p>\n S&P 500 futures were near the flatline ahead of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision and earnings reports from major tech companies.<\/p>\n