Asia-Pacific markets were mixed Wednesday, following gains on Wall Street as investors appeared unperturbed by the US government shutdown, reports CNBC.
Japan's Nikkei 225 sunk 0.85% to close at 44,550.85, marking its fourth straight day of losses, while the broad-based Topix was down 1.37% and ended at 3,094.74.
The Reserve Bank of India held rates at 5.5%, in line with expectations by economists polled by Reuters. The Nifty 50 rose 0.74%, while the Sensex index added 0.83%.
In South Korea, the blue-chip Kospi was up 0.91% to finish at 3,455.83, and the small-cap Kosdaq gained 0.4% to 845.34.
The Taiwan Weighted Index pared earlier gains to rise 0.63% to 25,982.91. Chip heavyweight TSMC was up 1.53% after AI darling Nvidia topped $4.5 trillion in market cap.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped marginally to close at 8,845.7.
Meanwhile, European markets opened mixed on Wednesday, as investors monitor the US government shutdown. The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 0.6% as of 1:45 p.m. London time, with most sectors and major bourses in positive territory.
Stocks are picking up from a positive quarter on Wednesday, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 adding 3.1% in the three months to September. Big winners in Europe in the third quarter included Spanish stocks, the banking sector and chip giant ASML.
Pharmaceutical stocks are moving higher after U.S. President Donald Trump announced efforts to lower drug prices in the U.S. AstraZeneca, for example, added 7.2%, though a lot of chatter still surrounds the company amid a potential shift from the London Stock Exchange to New York.
