Asian shares fall after weak earnings pull Wall St lower

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares were mostly lower on Thursday after Wall Street benchmarks fell and Japan reported a 14th straight month of monthly trade deficits due to high prices for oil and other commodities and a weakening yen.

Wall Street futures were mixed while oil prices gained.

Japan's trade deficit was a record high for the first half of the year, though it fell slightly from the month before and was smaller than analysts had forecast.

The Finance Ministry said Thursday that imports rose nearly 46% from the same month a year ago on the back of rising oil and gas costs. Imports have grown for 20 months straight on-year.

The dollar has gained strength versus currencies worldwide as inflation and recession concerns prompt investors to look for relatively stable investments. The yen is now trading at 32-year lows against the dollar, changing hands at 149.93 Japanese yen early Thursday, up from 149.81 yen a day earlier.

The euro slipped to 97.59 cents from 97.73 cents.

“As is often the case, rising U.S. yields and the strong U.S. dollar are the sledge hammers pounding global equities lower," Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

In share trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 0.9% to 27,006.96, recovering some lost ground, while the Kospi in Seoul declined 0.9% to 2,216.49. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng shed 1.6% to 16,254.32.

The Shanghai Composite index was flat at 3,044.77 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gave up 1% to 6,730.70.

The pullback on Wall Street on Wednesday came as investors reviewed quarterly earnings reports and Treasury yields climbed to multiyear highs, tempting traders with higher returns on relatively low-risk investments.

Early gains faded fast. The S&P 500 fell 0.7% to close at 3,695.16, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average...