Stock market today: Asian stocks fall after a torrent of profit reports leaves Wall Street mixed

Asian stocks mostly fell on Wednesday as markets digested Japanese and Australian business data, after U.S. stocks held relatively steady as earnings reporting season ramped up for big companies.

U.S. futures fell while oil prices were higher.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.2% in morning trading to 39,508.84, with the Japanese yen trading at its highest level in months ahead of a Bank of Japan policy decision next week.

The U.S. dollar was trading over 162 yen earlier this month but the Japanese currency has strengthened in recent days after officials intervened to staunch the yen’s decline. Expectations that the BOJ may raise its near-zero interest rate, and that the Federal Reserve may in turn cut rates, have helped support the yen, which has languished as the gap between U.S. rates and those in Japan widened.

Early Wednesday, the dollar was trading at 154.78 yen, down from 155.59 yen late Tuesday.

A business survey released on Wednesday showed Japan’s factory activity contracted in July, as weak demand weighed on the manufacturing sector. Services were on the rise, helping to drive growth in overall activity in Japan’s private sector.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.6% to 17,370.09, led by the Hang Seng Tech Index which dropped 0.9%. The Shanghai Composite was nearly unchanged at 2,915.46.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.1% higher to 7,973.20 after its services sector saw weaker growth in July. Manufacturing improved slightly but remained in contractionary territory.

South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.3% to 2,772.55, as heavyweight Samsung Electronics plunged 1.1% after talks between the company and its largest workers’ union ended with no agreement. Earlier this month, the workers declared an indefinite strike to pressure the company to accept their calls for higher pay and other benefits.

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 slipped 0.2% to 5,555.74. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1% lower to 40,358.09, and the Nasdaq composite dipped 0.1% to 17,997.35.

But the smaller stocks in the Russell 2000 continued their big run and rose 1%. They’ve flipped the market’s leaderboard recently and zoomed higher amid hopes for coming cuts to interest rates.