Nikkei 225, Hang Seng Index
View of the Skytree from Ueno and Asakusa in Tokyo
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Asia-Pacific shares mostly rose Thursday, tracking a mixed session on Wall Street and a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives, which passed a short-term funding bill that will end the longest federal shutdown on record.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.23% in early trading, while the Topix added 0.62% to hit a record high.
Shares of SoftBank Group continue to fall for a second consecutive day, plunging more than 5%, after the Japanese giant said Tuesday it sold its entire $5.8 billion stake in Nvidia in October, to fund its OpenAI bet.
South Korea’s Kospi was flat, while the small-cap Kosdaq climbed 0.31%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.01% after the seasonally adjusted October unemployment rate eased to 4.3%, government jobs data showed Thursday. The latest reading was better than the 4.4% figure expected by Reuters-polled economists and compared with 4.5% in September.
The better-than-expected decline in October lowers expectations for a rate cut. The Australian dollar rose to 0.6556 against the greenback.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.15%, while the mainland’s CSI 300 was flat in early trading.
U.S. equity futures ticked lower in early Asian hours after a continued market rotation powered the Dow Jones Industrial Average to record its first close above 48,000 Wednesday stateside.
Overnight, the 30-stock Dow closed up 326.86 points, or 0.68%, at 48,254.82. The index also hit a fresh all-time intraday high in the session. The S&P 500 traded around the flatline, settling up 0.06% at 6,850.92, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.26% to finish at 23,406.46.
— CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Pia Singh contributed to this report.
Correction: This article was updated to accurately reflect the opening hours of South Korean markets.
