Asia-Pacific stocks mixed; China's trade data for September ahead

SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific traded mixed on Wednesday morning as investors in Asia-Pacific looked ahead to the release of Chinese trade data for September.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.18% while the Topix index dipped 0.28%.

Mainland Chinese stocks were mixed, with the Shanghai composite fractionally lower while the Shenzhen component rose 0.398%.

Elsewhere, South Korea's Kospi advanced 1.07%. Australian stocks were also in positive territory as the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.11%.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan traded 0.16% higher.

Meanwhile, morning trading of securities and derivatives at the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing is set to be cancelled on Wednesday because of bad weather due to Typhoon Kompasu. That comes after the Hong Kong Observatory announced at around 7:45 a.m. local time that the severe weather warning "will remain in force before noon."

Oil prices were muted in the morning of Asia trading hours, although they still remained elevated above $80 per barrel.

International benchmark Brent crude futures were largely flat at $83.43 per barrel. U.S. crude futures also stood little changed at $80.65 per barrel.

China on Tuesday announced plans to liberalize coal-fired power pricing, Reuters reported, as the country faces a energy crisis.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 94.403 after bouncing from levels below 94.2 earlier in the week.

The Japanese yen traded at 113.39 per dollar following yesterday's weakening from below 113.4 against the greenback. The Australian dollar was at $0.7335, off levels around $0.738 seen yesterday.