Stocks Down Under are up almost 1 percent Wednesday, the only major market in the Asian region climbing after U.S. stocks hit a fresh record high overnight. The broader MSCI Asia Pacific Index is down, off about 0.5 percent with South Korea leading declines on renewed weakness in Samsung Electronics Co. amid a furor over its malfunctioning folding smartphone.
Australia takes the spotlight thanks to deepening speculation of an interest rate cut after inflation slowed sharply in the first three months of the year to send the currency down over half a U.S. cent. Consumer price growth of 1.3 percent came in below estimates, according to a statistics bureau report Wednesday.
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