Nikkei, Topix, Kospi: Steigender Ölpreis bremst Börsen in Asien

A surging oil price has hindered the recovery of Asian stock markets on Wednesday, preventing them from capitalizing on Wall Street's record highs from the previous day. The Japanese Nikkei Index closed weaker, slipping about half a percent to 70,306 points. The broader Topix index fell equally by 4167 points. The leading index, Kospi, trailed by 1.5 percent ahead of Samsung Electronics' quarterly results expected on Thursday.

Similar declines were seen in Hong Kong and Singapore exchanges. Chinese exchanges remained closed due to the holiday. The markets in Japan were pressured by a storm that hit the Gulf of Mexico and growing tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, driving oil prices up by around one percent. Japanese stocks in particular suffered under pressure.

Tokyo Electron and Advantest shares dropped by approximately two and 1.5 percent respectively. "At the start of the Japanese fiscal year, institutional investors tend to sell stocks to take profits," said Taka Ikeda, portfolio manager at GSCI. A report of a raid by cartel authorities on four large breweries also weighed on the stocks of Kirin and Asahi, both down by about 1.5 and one percent.

In South Korea, investors were nervous ahead of the annual earnings season. "The macroeconomic environment that has burdened the region in September has not shown significant improvement," said chief strategist Inki Cho of trading platform Exness. "While the region's investors are not entirely abandoning Asia, they are hesitant to take on new risks as the next Fed rate hike remains unclear."