Asian stock markets exhibited a mixed performance on Thursday, despite China's introduction of various measures aimed at stabilizing its stock exchanges. Investors were keenly awaiting significant announcements regarding tariffs from the Trump administration, along with monetary policy decisions from several prominent central banks in the forthcoming weeks.
In Asian trading, the dollar weakened, while gold remained steady near its three-month high, and oil prices declined due to indications of increasing stockpiles in the United States.
In China, the Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.51% to close at 3,230.16. This rise came as Beijing announced plans to direct major state insurers and commercial insurance funds to boost their investments in the A-share market. Additionally, the securities regulator vowed to intensify efforts to enhance cross-border investment and financing.
Conversely, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed 0.40% lower at 19,700.56, relinquishing early gains. On a different note, Japanese markets experienced notable gains, driven by optimism around artificial intelligence spending and in anticipation of the forthcoming CPI data and the Bank of Japan's interest rate decision.
The Nikkei average increased 0.79% to 39,958.87, while the broader Topix index rose by 0.53% to end at 2,751.74. Notably, SoftBank Group surged by 5.1%, extending its gains from the previous session following the White House's announcement of the Stargate AI infrastructure initiative.
In South Korea, stock prices fell sharply after reports showed that the country's economy made minimal growth in the fourth quarter of 2024 amid a severe political crisis. The Kospi average dropped by 1.24% to 2,515.49. Despite reporting a record quarterly profit, SK Hynix, a leading chipmaker, saw its shares decline by 2.7%.
Australia saw its markets retreat, breaking a three-day winning streak, with significant losses in the mining and consumer discretionary sectors. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 decreased by 0.61% to 8,378.70, while the broader All Ordinaries index fell 0.59% to 8,629.10. Prominent stocks such as BHP, Rio Tinto, and Fortescue Metals declined between 1-2%.
Iluka Resources slid 6.5% after Perpetual reduced its stake in the company. Meanwhile, Myer surged by 6.1%, and Premier Investments shed 0.7% after announcing a merger agreement between the two companies.
On another note, in New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index rose slightly by 0.18% to reach 13,060.08.
In the United States, strong advances in stock markets overnight brought Wall Street close to record levels, buoyed by Netflix's impressive quarterly results, optimism over potential Federal Reserve rate cuts, and President Trump's new artificial intelligence initiative. The Dow inched up by 0.3%, the S&P 500 increased by 0.6%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped by 1.3%.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company -
www.instaforex.com
