Asian stocks open mostly lower to follow Wall Street

Asian stocks opened mostly lower on Wednesday, with the Japanese, Chinese, New Zealand and Australian indices falling, in addition to Hong Kong's Hang Seng, while South Korea's Kospi rose, hours after of a speech by US Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell in New York, which limited the chances of cutting the federal funds rates by the next meeting.

Otherwise, we followed the New Zealand economy decisions and directions of monetary policy makers at the New Zealand Central Bank during the June 26 meeting that included the keeping of the short term benchmark interest rate at 1.50% with the interest rate statement disclosure, as expected in the markets, following a 25 basis point cut in interest rates at the previous meeting for the first time in three years.

On the other hand, the markets are looking forward to the launch of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, on next Friday and Saturday, as they look forward to the upcoming meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Saturday, amid hopes to resolve the trade disputes between the world's largest two economies following the escalation of trade protectionism and the imposition of tariffs on each other's goods and the recent threat by the US administration to impose tariffs on other Chinese goods estimated at about $300 billion.

Japanese stocks saw a drop during today's trading session, with the broader Topix index falling by 0.55% to lose 6.25 points down to 1,537.24, and Nikkei 225 fell 0.55% or 6.25 points down to 21,076.65.

Chinese equities also fell, as CSI 300 shed 0.12% (4.68 points) to 3,796.63. The Shanghai Composite fell 0.18%, shedding 5.40 points to 2,976.68.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was flat, losing 0.38 points to 28,185.60, while South Korea's Kospi rose 0.13% to 2.73 points, up to 2,124.37.

To the New Zealand NZX 50 index, which fell 0.02% (2.22 points) to reach 10,416.07. On the other hand, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index shed 0.14% (9.43 points) to 6,648.60.