(MENAFN- Baystreet.ca) Major stock markets in Asia ended mixed on Wednesday amid concerns over the state of ongoing U.S.-China trade negotiations, after reports emerged that the White House canceled a trade planning meeting with Beijing this week.
The Nikkei 225 subtracted 29.19 points, or 0.1%, to 20,593.72. Shares of Apple supplier Japan Display soared 18.8%, following a report that the company was looking for a bailout after disappointing sales of the iPhone XR. Japan Display supplies the liquid crystal display screens used in the iPhone XR.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index nicked forward 2.75 points to 27,008.20
Meanwhile, Japanese automaker Subaru saw its stock drop 3.4%. The stock moves came after Subaru announced it had halted production at its car factory in Japan due to a defective part.
Japan's central bank kept interest rates steady, as expected. The Bank of Japan also left its forward guidance, a move taken in July to keep interest rates extremely low for an extended period, unchanged.
The Japanese yen, widely seen as a safe-haven currency, traded at 109.62 against the U.S. dollar after after touching a high of 109.31 earlier.
In Australia, shares went slightly downhill. The energy sector declined by 1.5% as oil stocks mostly fell on the back of Tuesday's drop in crude prices. Santos dropped 1.5%, Oil Search declined 1.1% and Woodside Petroleum fell 1.3%
The Australian dollar was at $0.7135 U.S. after seeing an earlier low of $0.7114.
CHINA
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 dropped 2.27 points, or 0.1%, to 3,141.05
Officials from the Chinese finance ministry said Wednesday that Beijing will boost fiscal expenditure in 2019 to bolster the country's economy.
China delivered about 1.3 trillion yuan of cuts in taxes and fees in 2018, in a bid to stem a slowdown in the country's economic growth as the country was embroiled in a trade fight with Washington.
Stocks stateside dropped to their lows of the day following a Financial Times story which said the U.S. had canceled a trade meeting with Chinese officials.
White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow, however, denied that report, telling U.S. media that "there was never a planned meeting" other than the scheduled visit by Chinese Vice Premier Liu He next week.
The U.S. and China are aiming to strike a deal to break their trade impasse before March 1. The two economic powerhouses have been locked in an ongoing trade war since 2018 which has seen both sides slap billions of dollars worth of tariffs on each other's goods.
In other markets
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index 21.6 points, or 0.7%, to 3,171.11
In Korea, the Kospi index recovered 10.01 points, or 0.5%, to 2,127.78
In Taiwan, the Taiex index docked 48.26 points, or 0.5%, to 9,846.40
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 moved lower 8.6 points, or 0.1%, to 9,106.03
In Australia, the ASX 200 sank 15.06 points, or 0.3%, to 5,843.72
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