TOKYO – Asian shares retreated in cautious trading Wednesday ahead of an earnings report from Nvidia that is seen as a bellwether for the recent craze for artificial intelligence technology.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 was nearly unchanged at 48,724.17.

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Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.5% to 25,812.54, while the Shanghai Composite slipped just over 1 points to 3,939.29.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.1% to 8,458.40, while South Korea's Kospi shed 0.5% to 3,934.58.

Nvidia was due to report its earnings for the last quarter later in the day. A U.S. jobs report due out Thursday, after a hiatus in updates due to the U.S. government shutdown, is another factor weighing on market sentiment.

On Tuesday, share prices fell worldwide, with Nvidia leading Wall Street lower

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