Asia stocks drift lower tracking Wall St; Hong Kong rises as Nvidia cheer persists

Investing.com-- Most Asian stocks fell on Wednesday, tracking a weak overnight session on Wall Street as sticky inflation data and persistent concerns over President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs weighed. 

Hong Kong shares were outliers, extending strong gains from the prior session as the technology sector was encouraged by NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) stating that it will resume sales of a popular artificial intelligence chip in China. 

But mainland Chinese markets fell following a mixed gross domestic product reading for the second quarter, with analysts warning of a sustained slowdown in the coming months. The Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite indexes shed about 0.2% each.

Hong Kong stocks buoyed by tech on Nvidia cheer 

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was the best performer in Asia, rising as much as 0.8%.

The index was boosted chiefly by gains in major technology shares, with heavyweights such as Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU), Alibaba (NYSE:BABA), and Tencent extending gains from the prior session. 

Access to Nvidia’s chips allows the three to proceed unhindered with their AI efforts. Along with ByteDance and DeepSeek, the three are at the forefront of China’s AI development.

Baidu’s Hong Kong shares (HK:9888) jumped 3% after it announced a partnership with U.S. ride hailing giant Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE:UBER) to deploy robotaxis globally. 

But bigger gains in Hong Kong markets were still held back by concerns over slowing growth in the mainland. 

Asia stocks track Wall St weakness after hot CPI 

Regional markets took a weak lead-in from Wall Street, which ended below intraday peaks on Tuesday after U.S. consumer price index inflation read slightly hotter-than-expected for June.

The print ramped up concerns over the inflationary effects of Trump’s trade tariffs, and also spurred bets that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates unchanged for longer– a notion furthered by comments from Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan.

Trump also kept up his tariff threats after outlining steep duties against several major economies. 

S&P 500 Futures fell 0.1% in Asian trade. Concerns over the Fed’s independence, amid growing calls from Trump and his allies that Chair Jerome Powell should resign, also chipped away at U.S. assets. 

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.2%, as did the TOPIX, while South Korea’s KOSPI shed 0.7%. 

Australia’s ASX 200 fell 0.9%, seeing heavy profit-taking after coming close to record highs this week. 

Singapore’s Straits Times index rose marginally, while Gift Nifty 50 Futures for India’s Nifty 50 index were flat. 

Concerns over Trump’s tariffs also remained in play, after he outlined 25% duties on South Korea and Japan, effective August 1. Trump on Tuesday set a 19% tariff on Indonesia, and hinted recently that a trade deal with India may be close.