Asian markets close Wednesday mixed

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - Asian stock markets closed Wednesday mixed as tensions continued to escalate in the Russia-Ukraine war and central bank officials take increasingly hawkish positions, suppressing global share markets.

The continued weakening of the Japanese yen in Asia and shutdown measures due to increasing coronavirus cases in China also reduced the risk appetite.

On the other hand, the IMF lowered its 2022 growth expectations for China, Japan, and India on Tuesday after economic concerns on the effects of city quarantines, which have caused disruptions in supply chains in China, began to be reflected in the data.

On the other hand, the People's Bank of China left its one-year and five-year lending rates at 3.7% and 4.6%, respectively, at its meeting on Wednesday.

The foreign trade deficit in Japan came in at 412 billion yen ($3.2 billion) in March, well above expectations, with exports falling below forecasts after an annual rise of 14.7% and imports exceeding them with an increase of 31.2%.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, gained 39.76 points, or 1.15%, to close at around 3,483 points.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock exchange was up 232.76 points, or 0.86%, to 27,217.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, posted a fall, 83.09 points, or 0.4%, to 20,944.

China's Shanghai Stock Exchange also lost 43 points, or 1.35%, to close at 3,151 points.

The Indian Sensex benchmark was up 574 points, or 1%, to end the day at 57,037 points.

The Singapore index fell 28.19 points, or 0.85%, to 3,335.