Asian stock markets close day in negative territory

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - Almost all major stock markets in Asia posted negative figures on Wednesday, except for China's Shanghai stock exchange.

Global stock markets remained calm after US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met online to discuss economic and political issues as both leaders made constructive statements and Xi calling Biden an "old friend."

In terms of macroeconomic data, Japan's exports rose annually by 9.4%, as did imports by 26.7%, in October, falling short of expectations.

Even though core machinery orders increased by 12.5% annually in October, this figure also failed to meet market projections. Core machinery orders are considered an important signal of investments in in Japan's manufacturing industry.

Even as many are worried of increasing COVID-19 cases, concerns on global inflation have also limited risk appetites.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, fell by 46.53 points, or 1.18%, to close at nearly 3,898 points.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock exchange also lost 120 points, or 0.4%, to 29,688.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, on the other hand, was down by 63.7 points, or 0.25%, to 25,650.

China's Shanghai stock exchange was up by 15.58 points, or 0.44%, to 3,537 points, while the Sensex index in India fell 0.55% to 59,989 points.