Investing.com - Asian-Pacific indices opened lower on Wednesday after major US benchmarks snapped an eight session streak overnight.
By 10:45 am AEST (12:45 am GMT) the S&P/ASX 200 and KOSPI 200 fell 0.5% apiece while the Nikkei 225 lost 0.9%.
U.S. stocks ended lower with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 0.2% to 40,834.97, the S&P 500 falling 0.2% to 5,597.12, and the NASDAQ Composite losing 0.3% to 17,816.94.
Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Palo Alto Networks Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) Inc, surging 7.18%; Darden Restaurants Inc (NYSE:DRI), jumping 3.65%; and PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL), lifting 3.54%.
The biggest decliners were Insulet Corporation (NASDAQ:PODD), which dropped 6.87%; DexCom Inc (NASDAQ:DXCM), which fell 6.24%; and Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO), which lost 4.68%.
In commodity markets, Brent crude oil was down 0.6% to US$77.20 a barrel, while gold remained flat at US$2,514.52.
Chinese shares closed lower with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.9% to 2,866.66, and the Shenzhen Composite Index dropping 1.4% to 1,525.68. Hong Kong shares also ended lower, with the benchmark Hang Seng Index losing 0.3% to 17,511.08.
Japanese shares closed higher, with the Nikkei Stock Average rising 1.8% to 38,062.92. Indian shares ended higher as well, with the BSE SENSEX adding 0.5% to 80,802.86.
Stocks in the UK slipped, with the FTSE 100 Index falling 1.0% to 8,273.32. In Europe, shares closed lower, with Germany's DAX down 0.3% to 18,357.52, and France's CAC 40 falling 0.2% to 7,485.73.