Investing.com - Asian markets were mixed in morning trade on Wednesday. Reports that U.S. President Donald Trump felt the Federal Reserve is hiking rates too fast received some focus.
“I think we don’t have to go as fast,” Trump told CNBC. "I don't want to slow it down even a little bit,” he said, adding that he believed there was no need to raise rates when there were no signs of inflation in the economy. Trump did, however, acknowledge that he has not discussed with Federal Chair Jerome Powell about the central bank's rates decision.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.2% by 9:48PM ET (01:48 GMT). Sony Corp (T:6758) took center stage after the company confirmed it is working on building a new game console.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Kenichiro Yoshida, Sony’s president, said the company was in the process of building the next PlayStation console.
"At this point, what I can say is it's necessary to have a next-generation hardware," he said.
Meanwhile, Softbank (T:9984) is reportedly in talks to acquire a “majority stake” in WeWork Cos, a shared office space provider.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that the deal could be worth up to $20 billion.
China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component slid 0.2% and 0.3% respectively, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.5%.
South Korea’s KOSPI was down 1.1% after Trump said he will not be meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un before the U.S. midterm elections on Nov 6.
"It'll be after the midterms. I just can't leave now,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
Down under, Australia’s ASX 200 inched up 0.2%. Navitas Ltd (AX:NVT) jumped as much as 21.2% earlier in the day after the education provider announced it had received a AUD 1.97 billion ($1.4 billion) buyout offer from a consortium.