TOKYO – Asian stocks were mixed on Thursday following declines on Wall Street as swings that have recently hit global markets haunted investors.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index recovered earlier losses, falling 0.5% in afternoon trading to 34,915.47. S of Australia&P/ASX 200 fell 0.4% to 7,673.10. South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.7% to 2,551.36.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.8% to 17,018.62. The Shanghai Composite rose 0.3% to 2,877.28.
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 1.9%, while computer chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. lost 2.5%, tracking losses in the technology sector on Wall Street and elsewhere.
Some semiconductor equipment manufacturers and related companies reported additional losses. Advantest Corp. fell 3.2% and Disco Corp. But shares of Lasertec Corp. jumped 22.6% after it reported a 28% jump in its net profit for the fiscal year ended June 30.
YOU&P 500 and Dow futures were little changed.
Although Wall Street fell on Wednesday, the decline was not as severe as the manic moves that plagued global markets earlier in the week. European markets posted strong gains.
Japanese authorities moved on Wednesday to calm concerns about possible rate hikes, after a rise in its key rate contributed to sharp sell-offs on Monday when the Nikkei suffered its worst percentage loss since 1987.
The Japanese yen remained relatively stable following big gains in its value against the US dollar that prompted investors to dump stocks on Friday and Monday. The US dollar fell to 146.24 Japanese yen from 146.72 yen. The euro cost $1.0935, up from $1.0927.
Investors are also paying close attention to earnings reports released around the world.
Honda Motor Co. and Sony Corp. released relatively positive financial results this week. Honda shares jumped more than 1%, while Sony lost early gains and fell 0.7%.
On Wednesday, the S&OP 500 fell 0.8% after a previous 1.7% jump faded, closing at 5,199.50. The Dow fell 0.6% to 38,763.45. The Nasdaq composite fell 1% to 16,195.81.
The two-year Treasury yield held steady at 3.99% on Wednesday, where it was late on Tuesday.
Nvidia, one of Wall Street’s most influential companies, went from a morning gain of 4.4% to a loss of 5.1%, making it the heaviest weight in the index. Shares of Nvidia and other big technology companies have struggled due to concerns that their prices have soared too much amid the Wall Street frenzy surrounding artificial intelligence technology.
Helping to limit losses on Wall Street was Apple, which rose 1.2%. It recouped some of its losses earlier in the week after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway revealed it had reduced its ownership stake in the iPhone maker.
Strong yields are supporting markets even as concerns about the trajectory of the US economy deepen following relatively weak employment data.
Strong earnings reports from the largest U.S. companies continue to emerge, and growth from those in the S&The P 500 index could end up being the best since 2021, according to FactSet.
The expectation on Wall Street is that the Fed will reduce its main interest rate at its next meeting scheduled for next month, either by the traditional quarter of a percentage point or by a more severe amount of half a point.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude rose 17 cents to $75.40 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 6 cents to $78.39 a barrel.
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