MIXED.

Asian stock markets were mixed Wednesday, May 5, 2021 in light trading while China and Japan were closed for holidays. Hong Kong declined while Sydney and India advanced following Wall Street’s overnight fall. New Zealand and Southeast Asian markets retreated. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.6 percent to 28,397.29 while the S&P-ASX 200 in Sydney rose 0.4 percent to 7,094.90. India’s Sensex opened up 0.4 percent at 48,454.09. New Zealand’s benchmark lost 0.4 percent, Singapore shed one percent and Bangkok tumbled 1.8 percent. “With relatively light newsflow and macro data, price action in the region was subdued in holiday-thinned conditions,” said Anderson Alves of ActivTrades in a report. Investors are watching corporate earnings and looking ahead to Friday’s US jobs data. Most economic indicators point to improving conditions, but investors are worried about renewed coronavirus outbreaks and a possible uptick in inflation. Earlier, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Monday, May 3, the economic outlook has “clearly brightened” in the United States but the recovery is uneven.