Investing.com - Asian equities were mostly higher in morning trade on Wednesday even after U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that his country would “no longer tolerate abuse” on trade.
Overnight, Trump’s comments pressured the financial sector and sent U.S. stocks lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 0.3%, the S&P 500 fell 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2% as traders awaited the Federal Reserve meeting.
"Those days are over. We will no longer tolerate such abuse (on trade)," Trump told the United Nations General Assembly. "We will not allow our workers to be victimized, our companies to be cheated, and our wealth to be plundered and transferred. America will never apologize for protecting its citizens."
In China, trade tension with the U.S. remained in focus as the country’s Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen said Beijing would resume trade talks only if the U.S. show sincerity and not put a knife at China’s throat.
Wang then added that the two sides were set to have four rounds of talks but the U.S. went back on what they had agreed.
China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component gained 0.2% and 0.4% respectively by 9:42PM ET (01:42 GMT). Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index also rose 0.6%.
Global index provider MSCI said it is looking into the options to increase the weighting of Chinese big-caps in its indexes.
MSCI said in a statement that it is considering to increase the initial inclusion factor to 20% from the current 5% in its flagship indexes.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.2%.
Down under, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2% in the morning, with major miner Rio Tinto Ltd (AX:RIO) gaining as much as 2%, while BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) (AX:BHP Billiton) traded higher by 1.2%.
South Korean markets are closed for a public holiday.