Asian shares mixed as Trump orders blockade of oil tankers to Venezuela

Asian shares were mixed on Wednesday, with strong buying of technology shares helping lift some benchmarks, while oil prices surged more than 1 per cent after President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers into Venezuela.

Trump's move followed the seizure by US forces last week of an oil tanker off Venezuela's coast, an unusual move that followed a buildup of military forces in the region as his administration ramps up pressure on the country's authoritarian leader, Nicolas Maduro.

US futures edged lower.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 shed 0.3 per cent to 49,237.58. Traders awaited a decision on an interest rate hike by the Bank of Japan later in the week.

The government reported that the total value of machinery orders received by 280 manufacturers fell 6.8 per cent in October from the month before, in line with other signs of weakening factory activity.

Chinese markets were marginally higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng picked up 0.2 per cent to 25,291.44, while the Shanghai Composite index was up nearly 0.2 per cent, at 3,831.43.

In South Korea, the Kospi advanced 0.7 per cent to 4,028.93, lifted by computer chip maker SK Hynix, which gained 2.8 per cent, and a 3.6 per cent jump for Samsung Electronics.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gave up 0.2 per cent to 8,581.00.

On Tuesday, US stocks drifted through a mixed day of trading after reports on the US economy did little to clear up uncertainty about where interest rates may be heading.

One report said the US unemployment rate was at its worst level since 2021 in November, but employers also added more jobs last month than economists expected. A separate report, meanwhile, said an underlying measure of strength for revenue at US retailers grew more in October than economists expected.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.2 per cent to 6,800.26. It remains a bit below its all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.6 per cent to 48,114.26, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2 per cent to 23,111.46.

The mixed data left intact traders' hopes that the Federal Reserve may continue to cut interest rates in 2026. What the Fed does with interest rates is a top driver for financial markets because lower rates can boost the economy and prices for investments, even if they also may worsen inflation.

A report coming on Thursday will show how bad inflation was last month, and economists expect it to show prices for US consumers continue to rise faster than anyone would like.

A report released on Tuesday suggested price pressures are rising sharply, with average selling prices for businesses climbing at one of the fastest rates since the middle of 2022. The preliminary data from S&P Global also said growth for overall business activity slowed to its weakest level since June.

The sharpest losses on Wall Street came from companies in the oil business as prices for crude kept sliding.

Expectations that companies are pumping more than enough oil to meet the world's demand have sent the price for a barrel of benchmark US crude to its lowest level since 2021.

Early Wednesday, US benchmark crude was up 73 cents at USD 56.00 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, picked up 71 cents to USD 59.63 per barrel.

APA's stock sank 5.2 per cent. Marathon Petroleum sank 4.7 per cent, and Halliburton dropped 4.3 per cent.

Artificial-intelligence technology stocks were mixed. Oracle rose 2 per cent, and Broadcom added 0.4 per cent. They both logged sharp losses last week, despite reporting stronger profits for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

CoreWeave, which rents out access to top-of-the-line AI chips, fell 3.9 per cent.

Questions remain about whether all the spending underway on AI technology will produce the kind of profits and productivity that will make it worth the expense.

In other dealings early Wednesday, the US dollar rose to 155.12 Japanese yen from 154.73 yen. The euro slipped to USD 1.1732 from USD 1.1748.