Asia stock markets today: live updates

Asia-Pacific markets opened mostly lower on Wednesday as investors digest the latest comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Powell said Tuesday that the central bank would have already cut interest rates if it weren’t for U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff initiatives.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slid 1.32%, and the Topix lost 0.64%. South Korea’s Kospi was 0.42% lower while the Kosdaq was flat.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 inched up 0.49%.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 24,170, higher than its last close of 24,072.28.

U.S. stock futures were little changed early Asian hours after investors began the second half of the year with a reduced appetite for technology stocks.

Overnight stateside, the three major averages closed mixed. The S&P 500 inched down 0.11% and closed at 6,198.01, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.82% to settle at 20,202.89. The blue-chip Dow was the outlier, gaining 400.17 points, or 0.91%, to end at 44,494.94.

— CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Tanaya Macheel contributed to this report.