A Japanese flag flutters near shipping containers on the waterfront in Odaiba in Tokyo on August 6, 2020.
Behrouz Mehri | Contributor | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets fell on Wednesday after U.S. benchmarks, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite, snapped an eight-day winning streak overnight.
The S&P 500 fell 0.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.33%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.15%. Tuesday’s gain would have been the index’s longest winning streak since 2004.
In Asia, Japanese trade data for July showed exports rose 10.3% year-on-year and imports rose 16.6%. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast exports rising 11.4%, while imports were forecast to grow 14.9%.
With exports falling short of expectations and imports rising more than expected, Japan swung to a trade deficit of 621.84 billion yen ($4.28 billion), larger than the 330.7 billion yen economists had forecast.
July will be the last month of trade data recorded before the Bank of Japan moves to raise interest rates at the end of July, which has caused the yen to strengthen significantly.
A weaker yen typically benefits Japanese exporters and trading companies, the heavyweights of the Nikkei 225 index whose rise has been instrumental in pushing the index to record highs.
Japan Nikkei 225 Index China's stock index fell 0.88% after the data was released, while the broad Topix index fell 0.6%.
Hong Kong Hang Seng Index China's technology stock index fell 1.38%, leading losses in Asia, while China's CSI 300 index fell 0.57%.
Technology and consumer cyclical stocks on the Hangzhou Stock Exchange Index fell, with e-commerce giant JD.com Shares of JD.com Inc. fell 11.4%. The losses come after U.S. retail giant Walmart Inc. told CNBC it was looking to sell its stake in JD.com. The stake could reportedly be worth $3.74 billion.
South Korea's Kospi fell 0.23%, and the smaller-cap Kosdaq index fell 1.13%.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 also fell 0.48%.
—CNBC's Alex Haring and Hakyung Kim contributed to this report.
