Global Shares Mixed After Wall Street Slip

Tokyo, Aug 21 (AP) Global shares were trading mixed Wednesday following a slip on Wall Street that snapped an eight-day winning streak, the longest of the year.

France's CAC 40 gained 0.3 per cent to 7,505.17 in early trading. Germany's DAX rose 0.3 per cent to 18,404.26, while Britain's FTSE 100 edged up 0.1 per cent to 8,284.94. US shares were set to drift higher with Dow futures up 0.1 per cent at 40,998.00. SandP 500 futures were little changed, inching up slightly to 5,621.75.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.3 per cent to finish at 37,951.80. Australia's SandP/ASX 200 reversed course and rose 0.2 per cent to 8,010.50. South Korea's Kospi edged up 0.2 per cent to 2,701.13. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.7 per cent to 17,391.01, while the Shanghai Composite shed nearly 0.4 per cent to 2,856.58.

In Tokyo, Japan's Finance Ministry reported a 621 billion Yen (USD 4.3 billion) trade deficit in July, as surging global prices pushed imports higher, growing nearly 17 per cent from the previous year. Robust imports underlined better consumer spending amid rising wages. Japan's exports also grew, rising 10 per cent, to destinations like the US and China.

Market watchers have their eyes on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech later this week at an economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Expectations aren't high that he will announce anything dramatic now, with nearly everyone expecting the Fed to cut interest rates next month. But markets are looking for signs of how big that cut might be.

“We might get a read on how confident or otherwise the Fed is that inflation has been tamed, and from this, markets may project the size and scope of rate cuts we might expect to see,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade.

“The Fed chairman's take on the health of the jobs market will also be interesting to watch.”

In energy trading, benchmark US crude fell 33 cents to USD 74.04 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 4 cents to USD 77.24 a barrel.

In currency trading, the US dollar rose to 146.01 Yen from 145.13 Yen. The Euro cost USD 1.1123, down from USD 1.1132.

Rate raises by Japan's central bank helped set off losses for markets around the world because they forced hedge funds to abandon a popular trade, where they borrowed Japanese Yen cheaply and invested it elsewhere.

That included the worst day for Japan's stock market since the Black Monday crash of 1987. The Bank of Japan since then has allayed market jitters by signaling future moves will be gradual.