Asian shares mixed after Wall St dips on weak economic data

Asian shares were trading mixed Wednesday following a decline on Wall Street after reports on the U.S. economy came in weaker than expected. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 1.7% in afternoon trading to 27,808.75. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 stood little changed, inching down less than 0.1% to 7,232.60. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.5% to 2,493.83. Trading was closed in Hong Kong and Shanghai for the Qingming Festival, a holiday. New Zealand’s benchmark fell 0.3% after the central bank surprised economists by imposing an aggressive half-point rate rise to bring its policy interest rate to 5.25%. It was the Reserve Bank of…