Investing.com - Asia markets mostly gained on Wednesday with sentiment carrying over from the U.S. after Apple earnings,
Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 0.35%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was flat, with moderate gains in the industrials sub-index offset by a steeper falls in the energy and materials sub-indexes.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 0.57% and the Shanghai Composite edged up 0.13%. Strong earnings results from tech bellwether Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) rippled out to component makers in the Asian region.
Shares in the world's most valuable company surged 6% after hours to a record of more than $159, taking its market capitalization above $830 billion.
Also in the news, Australia reported building approvals for June jumped 10.9%, far outpacing a 1.5% gain seen month-on-month.
Earlier in New Zealand, the employment change on the second quarter fell 0.2%, missing a 0.7% gain seen for an unemployment rate steady at 4.8% as expected.
Ahead, the Reserve Bank of India will also unveil its latest interest rate decision with a cut to 6% seen from 6.25% for the benchmark and the reverse repo rate down to 5.80% from 6.00%.
Overnight, Wall Street closed at record highs for the second day in a row, shrugging off lacklustre economic data, as traders looked ahead to earnings from tech-heavyweight Apple Inc (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:AAPL) due after markets close.
U.S. stocks continued to advance, buoyed by expectations that earnings will continue to top expectations after Sprint Corp (NYSE:S), Pfizer Inc (NYSE:NYSE:PFE) and Under Armour Inc A (NYSE:NYSE:UAA) posted quarterly earnings ahead of forecasts.
Shares of Under Armour, however, sank more than 8% as the sportswear apparel brand announced plans to cut about 2% of its global workforce amid a slump in sales.
Under Armour said revenue is now expected to grow 9 to 11 percent, lower than its previous forecast of 11 to 12 percent growth.
Meanwhile, a raft of economic reports pointed to continued sluggishness in economic activity, following manufacturing and personal spending data that fell short of expectations while the pace of inflation showed little sign of improvement.
The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, rose 0.1% in June. In the 12 months through June, the so-called core PCE price index increased 1.5% after advancing by the same margin in May.
Fresh on the heels of the inflation data, was a report indicating a slowdown in consumer spending as personal income failed to increase for the first time in seven months, pointing to a moderate pace of consumption growth in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing gauge slowed to 56.3 in July, from a reading of 57.8 the previous month. That compared with economists’ expectations for the manufacturing index to fall to 56.4.
Readings above 50 are meant to signal that output in the industry is rising.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher at 21,963. The S&P 500 closed 0.24% higher while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 6362.94, up 0.23%.