The Japanese flag flies near cargo containers at Tokyo's Odaiba waterfront on August 6, 2020.
BEHROUZ MEHRI | Contributor | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets were mostly lower on Wednesday after the major U.S. stock indexes, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite, ended eight-day winning streaks overnight.
Japan's July trade data showed exports rose 10.3% from a year earlier, while imports rose 16.6%. Economists surveyed by Reuters had expected exports to rise 11.4% and imports to rise 14.9%.
Fewer exports and more imports than expected meant Japan's trade deficit came to 621.84 billion yen ($4.28 billion), higher than the 330.7 billion yen forecast by economists.
July marks the last month of trade data recorded before the Bank of Japan raised interest rates at the end of July, triggering a dramatic rise in the yen.
A weaker yen typically benefits Japanese exporters and trading companies, the mainstay of the Nikkei average, whose gains have played a key role in propelling the index to record highs.
Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.29% to close at 37,951.8 after the data was released, while the Tokyo Stock Price Index fell 0.21% to close at 2,664.86.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 0.82% in the final hour of trading, while mainland China's CSI 300 Index was down 0.33% to close at 3,321.64, nearing a six-month low hit on Aug. 14.
Technology and cyclical stocks dragged the HSI down, with e-commerce giant JD.com dropping as much as 11%. The drop came after US retail giant Walmart told CNBC it was considering selling a stake in JD.com that could reportedly be worth $3.74 billion.
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South Korea's KOSPI reversed losses to rise 0.17% to 2,701.13, while the small-cap KOSDAQ lost 0.96% to end at 779.87.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 also swung into positive territory late in the day, closing up 0.16% at 8,010. This is the first time the index has topped the 8,000 mark since the market crash on August 2.
Overnight, the S&P 500 fell 0.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.33%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.15%. If the S&P had risen on Tuesday, it would have marked the index's longest winning streak since 2004.
—CNBC's Alex Harring and Hakyung Kim contributed to this report.
