Asia-Pacific markets set to open lower after Wall Street postelection rally fizzles

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The momentum in Japan markets were largely driven by the country's technology and financial sector.

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Asia-Pacific stock markets were set to open lower Wednesday, tracking losses on Wall Street as the U.S. postelection rally stalled overnight.

Asian traders will assess Japanese corporate goods data, set for release later in the day. Economists polled by Reuters expect corporate goods prices to have risen by an average of 3% for the month of October compared to last year, up from 2.8% in September.

Japan's Nikkei 225 futures pointed to a lower open for the market, with the futures contract in Chicago at 39,230 and its counterpart in Osaka at 39,250 compared to the previous close of 39,376.09.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.2% at open.

Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were at 19,631, lower than the HSI's last close of 19,846.88.

Overnight in the U.S., stocks fell with both the tech-heavy Nasdaq and the S&P 500 snapping five-day win streaks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 382.15 points, or 0.86%, to 43,910.98, while the S&P 500 fell 0.29% to close at 5,983.99. The Nasdaq Composite ended the session marginally lower at 19,281.40.

Small-cap stocks, perceived as possible beneficiaries of Donald Trump's return as U.S. president, were largely under pressure, with the Russell 2000 sliding about 1.8%.

— CNBC's Brian Evans and Alex Harring contributed to this report.

CNBC Pro: Morgan Stanley fund manager picks stocks to play Trump's win

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's election win has sent shock waves through the stock market and left investors scrambling to work out which sectors — and stocks — are set to benefit.

Aaron Dunn, portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley's U.S. Value Fund, noted the "great deal of volatility" in markets following the election result, as markets reprice "what had been a 50/50 election."

Speaking to CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" on Tuesday, Dunn, who's also co-head of value equity at Morgan Stanley, identified three stocks he is betting on following the election result.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Amala Balakrishner

Stocks close lower, postelection climb exhales

Stocks closed lower on Tuesday, as Wall Street pauses from a postelection rally.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.29% to close at 5,983.99, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.09% to 19,281.40. The Dow Jones Industrial Average pulled back 382.15 points, or 0.86%, to finish the session at 43,910.98.

— Brian Evans

Three quarters of all NYSE stocks are falling Tuesday; 63% of Nasdaq in retreat

Roughly three quarters of all the stocks on the New York Stock Exchange are down in price Tuesday (2,090 out of 2,824 traded), while on the Nasdaq the percentage of declining stocks is about 63% (2,770 out of 4,388), according to FactSet data.

Measured by share volume, decliners on the NYSE account for some 71% of the total while on the Nasdaq, losers account for roughly 59.5% of all shares changing hands.

Still, because of the stock market's recent march to all-time highs by most measures, the number of new 52-week highs reached 177 on the NYSE vs 66 new 52-week lows. On the Nasdaq, new highs topped new lows by 257 to 141.

Total composite volume was far lighter than usual Tuesday on the NYSE, reaching about 70% of the past 30 days' average in late day trading, against more than 95% of the average on Nasdaq.

— Scott Schnipper

Small caps pull back following postelection rally

Small-cap stocks took an outsized hit on Tuesday after running up in a postelection rally.

The small cap-focused Russell 2000 slipped 1.4% during the session. That put the index on track to give up around all of its gain seen in the previous day.

By comparison, the broad S&P 500 slipped just around 0.1% in Tuesday trading.

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Russell 2000 vs. S&P 500, 1-day

Small-cap stocks have been viewed as winners during a second Donald Trump term because they can benefit from less regulation. Notably, the Russell 2000 is up about 6% compared with one week ago.

— Alex Harring

'Unwind risks' for stocks are rising, Citi says

The postelection excitement for investors may be setting up the market for a short-term pullback, according to Citi.

The investment firm's quantitative research team said in a note to clients that the current positioning in the stock market is "extended" and that "unwind risks are building for both the S&P 500 and Russell 2000."

"S&P positioning is currently at the highest level witnessed in the past 3 years, with positioning levels also extended across Nasdaq and Russell 2000. Profits are elevated for both S&P and Russell and this could lead to near-term profit-taking which may limit further upside," the note said.

— Jesse Pound