Stock Market Today: Asian Stocks Lower, Wall Street Steady

Hong Kong, Feb 28 (AP) Asian markets were mostly lower on Wednesday after US stocks held near their record levels in a quiet day of trading.

US futures and oil prices fell.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 edged 0.3 per cent lower to 39,173.50.

Shares in Hong Kong and Shanghai sank after the territory's financial chief announced a budget aimed at boosting tourism and the property industry. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong slipped 1.4 per cent to 16,562.96, while the Shanghai Composite sank 1.9 per cent to 2,957.85.

China's largest private property developer, Country Garden, said Wednesday that it is facing a liquidation petition after failing to repay a term loan facility worth 1.6 billion Hong Kong dollars (USD 204.5 million). The first hearing in the case is scheduled for May 17.

The move comes after China Evergrande, the world's most heavily indebted real estate developer, was ordered to undergo liquidation following a failed effort to restructure USD 300 billion in late January.

Australia's SandP/ASX 200 was little changed at 7,660.40 after the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday the country's inflation rate held at a two-year low in January, triggering hopes that the Reserve Bank may cut its benchmark interest rate.

South Korea's Kospi gained 1 per cent to 2,652.29, while Thailand's SET was down 0.6 per cent.

On Tuesday, the SandP 500 added 0.2 per cent, to 5,078.18 and was just off its all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.2 per cent, to 38,972.41, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.4 per cent to 16,035.30.

Macy's climbed 3.4 per cent after reporting better results for the latest quarter than feared. It also announced a sweeping reorganisation as it tries to kickstart growth in revenue.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings steamed 19.8 per cent higher for the biggest gain in the SandP 500 after saying it's seeing healthy demand from customers.

AutoZone revved 6.7 per cent higher after reporting a stronger profit than expected. Much of its growth last quarter came from its stores in Mexico and Brazil.

Zoom Video Communications climbed after topping analysts' forecasts for profit last quarter. It also announced a programme to buy back up to USD 1.5 billion of its stock, which would send cash directly to shareholders.

Those winners helped offset a 1.5 per cent drop for Chevron, one of the main reasons for the Dow Jones Industrial Average's slide. The company warned that its pending takeover of Hess may be under threat.

Cryptocurrency prices have also been running higher. Bitcoin rose above USD 57,000 before edging back below the threshold and is up by roughly a third so far this year already.

New exchange-traded funds that hold bitcoin have made investing in the cryptocurrency easier, while also driving business for Coinbase and others who safeguard those ETFs' bitcoins. Coinbase rose 2.7 per cent Tuesday to bring its gain for the year so far to 14.5 per cent.

Earnings reporting season is winding down for the big companies in the SandP 500, and the hope is that a remarkably solid US economy will help profits grow through this year.

A report in Tuesday morning showed orders for long-lasting manufactured goods were weaker last month than economists expected, but they were better than forecast after ignoring airplanes and other transportation items.

A separate report said that confidence among US consumers unexpectedly slipped. Confidence had been on the upswing, and it's a closely followed figure on Wall Street because spending by consumers makes up the bulk of the US economy.

On the upside for investors, the report also showed that expectations for inflation among US consumers ticked down a bit.

In other trading, US benchmark crude oil lost 36 cents to USD 78.51 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, shed 35 cents to USD 82.31 per barrel.

The US dollar rose to 150.73 Japanese Yen from 150.51 Japanese Yen. The Euro fell to USD 1.0821 from USD 1.0843.