China economic work conference; South Korea unemployment

Asia-Pacific markets were mixed Wednesday, after major Wall Street benchmarks declined ahead of key inflation data that could influence the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision.

China is reportedly kicking off its annual economic work conference on Wednesday to outline its economic policies and growth targets for next year.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index started the trading session 0.66% higher, while mainland China’s CSI 300 index was flat.

In South Korea, the blue-chip Kospi jumped 0.78% and the small-cap Kosdaq rose 2%, a day after the country’s parliament passed a downsized budget of 673.3 trillion won ($470.60 billion) for 2025 late yesterday.

This is reportedly the first time that a spending bill had been trimmed down without consent from government ministries.

On Wednesday, South Korea’s corruption investigation office for high-ranking officials reportedly said it would seek the detention and arrest of President Yoon Seok Yeol if conditions are met.

This comes after media reports emerged that police had raided the presidential office as part of an investigation into Yoon’s brief imposition of martial law.

South Korea also reported a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 2.7% in November, according to Statistics Korea, unchanged from the previous month.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 shed 0.32% while the broad-based Topix traded nearly flat.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was 0.57% lower.

Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell for a fourth straight day, losing 154.10 points, or 0.35%, to 44,247.83.

The S&P 500 fell 0.3% to end at 6,034.91, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.25% to 19,687.24. Both indexes fell for a second straight day.

Investors await the U.S. consumer price index report for November, due on Wednesday, which could influence the Federal Reserve interest-rate path at its policy meeting from Dec. 17 to Dec. 18.

The closely-watched economic index is forecast to have risen slightly to 2.7% 12-month inflation rate, accelerating by 0.1 percentage point from the previous month, and above the Fed’s targeting annual inflation at 2%, according to the Dow Jones estimates.

— CNBC’s Sean Sonlon and Brian Evans contributed to this report.