Asian equities decline following losses on Wall Street

Following US losses, Asian markets saw heavy trading on Wednesday. Investors were waiting for the Fed's policy meeting minutes later in the day, as well as a significant tech earnings report.

In advance of Nvidia's much awaited results, the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped about 1% in US trading on Tuesday. Traders are hopeful that Nvidia can live up to the lofty expectations raised by the AI industry and the company's rapid expansion.

According to Capital.Com Inc. senior market analyst Kyle Rodda, "the company's results have become the biggest of the reporting period, acting as both a macroeconomic barometer and the proverbial canary in the coal mine for the artificial intelligence boom," BNN said.

In light of its enormous value, "the bar for an upside surprise is set high," he continued.

Despite Tuesday's roughly 4% decline, Nvidia's stock price has increased since the beginning of the year due to investor anticipation for AI-related companies.

Expectations of record-breaking earnings by tech companies, particularly those in the AI space, and a reduction in interest rates have driven record highs for US and European shares in recent months.

Anthony Saglimbene of Ameriprise stated, "This is the market event to watch this week."

"While one company doesn't usually make or break a market, the growing influence of Nvidia on the overall bullish stock narrative, key tech companies, and broader indexes warrants close attention."Following the losses on Wall Street, markets started lower on Wednesday in Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland. However, within an hour or so, they were up, with the Hang Seng Index climbing by around 1.8%.

The increases followed the announcement on Tuesday by China's central bank that it was reducing the five-year loan prime rate, which is used to determine mortgage prices, from 4.2 to 3.95 percent. This is the biggest decrease since the key rate was redesigned in 2019.

While some experts were hoping for more significant steps from Beijing to bolster China's faltering economy and severely damaged real estate industry, traders appeared to brush off the action.

Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Manila, Bangkok, Taipei, Seoul, and Sydney were all offline.

On Wednesday, Japanese equities also saw a decline. Chip-related stocks fell following Nvidia's decline in front of its earnings announcement.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 is now farther away from reaching its all-time high closing of 38,915.87, which was attained in 1989, due to recent losses in Tokyo.

However, according to Bloomberg, "macro and stock hedge funds are betting on Japan this year," with the central bank expected to change its negative rate policy that has been in place for almost ten years.