It went in different directions for leading stock market indices in Asia a few hours into Wednesday's trading.
In Tokyo, where Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that he will not stand for re-election as party leader and thus not as Prime Minister, the Nikkei 225 index was down 0.2 percent, while the broader Topix was up 0.5 percent.
In China, the composite indices in Shanghai and Shenzhen were down, minus 0.4 percent and minus 0.6 percent, respectively.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was down 0.2 percent, and in South Korea, the Kospi was up 0.7 percent.
