Japan's Nikkei falls over 1%; New Zealand's central bank hikes interest rates

SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific were mostly lower on Wednesday, with Japan leading losses.

Japan's Nikkei 225 shed earlier gains to fall 1.47%, while the Topix index dipped 0.65%. South Korea's Kospi slipped 1.12%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index declined 0.46%. Shares in Australia also dipped, with the S&P/ASX 200 falling 0.51%.

In Southeast Asia, Singapore's Straits Times index bucked the trend, advancing 0.27%. India's Nifty 50 also gained 0.19%.

Overall, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.38%, however.

Mainland Chinese markets remain closed on Wednesday for the holidays.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) on Wednesday raised its official cash rate to 0.5%, joining South Korea and Norway in being among the earliest countries to raise rates in the pandemic era.

"The Committee noted that further removal of monetary policy stimulus is expected over time, with future moves contingent on the medium-term outlook for inflation and employment," the RBNZ said in a release.

Following the rate hike announcement, the New Zealand dollar briefly jumped above $0.697, before retreating from those levels and last trading at $0.6929.

Overnight stateside, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 311.75 points to 34,314.67 while the S&P 500 jumped 1.05% to 4,345.72. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.25% to 14,433.83.

Despite Tuesday's gains, all three major averages on Wall Street are still down for the week.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers was at 94.042 following its bounce earlier in the week from below 93.9.

The Japanese yen traded at 111.62 per dollar, weaker than levels below 111.2 seen against the greenback yesterday. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7265, still above levels below $0.728 seen yesterday.

Oil prices were lower in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures down fractionally to $82.51 per barrel. U.S. crude futures dipped 0.11% to $78.84 per barrel.