Asia report: Markets brush off tech-fuelled weakness
Markets in Asia finished mostly higher on Thursday, as investors in the region turned away from technology-fuelled weakness from Wall Street and Europe in the previous session.
AUD/USD
$0.6416
23:00 19/04/24
GBP/NZD
NZD2.1007
23:53 19/04/24
Hang Seng
16,224.14
10:21 19/04/24
Nikkei 225
37,068.35
09:44 19/04/24
USD/JPY
¥154.6345
23:58 19/04/24
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was up 0.61% at 21,159.08, as the yen moving 0.2% stronger against the dollar to last trade at JPY 106.64.
Broader gains were seen across the wider Topix index as well, although Takeda Pharmaceuticals plunged 7.45% after it said it was in the early stages of considering a bid for UK drug firm Shire.
On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite motored ahead 1.24% to 3,160.93, and the smaller, technology-heavy Shenzhen Composite added 0.98% to 1,830.09.
South Korea’s Kospi was 0.71% higher at 2,436.37, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was up 0.24% at 30,093.38.
Losses among carmakers and shipbuilders were offset by gains for banks and steel producers on the Korean peninsula.
Blue chip technology play Samsung Electronics was also on the right side of the index, finishing 0.7% firmer.
The gains in Asia came despite another red session on Wall Street overnight, once again fuelled by a sell-off in technology stocks, with Amazon, Apple and Netflix falling 4.4%, 1.1% and 5% respectively.
Trade issues were also burning away in the background, as China continued to consider the possibility of retaliatory actions against the US, including a quota on soybean imports.
Ongoing concerns about trade led to a drop in US bond yields during the Asian session on Thursday.
“Uncertainty about trade discussions and end-quarter buying supported fixed income across the board,” noted analysts at ANZ Research.
Oil prices were mixed, with Brent crude last down 0.1% at $69.46 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate rose 0.26% to $64.55.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.52% to 5,759.40, led lower by gold producers and the materials sector, with those subindices losing 1.87% and 1.1% respectively.
Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 fell 0.8% to 8,319.07, led lower by specialist dairy products producer A2 Milk, which fell 4.2%.
The company’s stock was down 9.7% for the week, with most of those losses coming after Swiss food giant Nestle confirmed it had developed a competing product to sell into A2’s primary market of China.
The down under dollars were mixed, with the Aussie last 0.04% stronger at AUD 1.3046 and the Kiwi 0.26% weaker at NZD 1.3901.