Asian markets mixed as investors weigh latest economic data
Asian shares were mixed Thursday after a mostly positive trading session on Wall Street.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index
NIK,
fell 0.4% after the release of disappointing factory and retail sales data. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index
HSI,
lost 0.9% while the Shanghai Composite index
SHCOMP,
gained 0.4%, following mixed data on manufacturing activity. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200
XJO,
jumped 1.3% and South Korea’s Kospi
180721,
edged 0.5% higher. Benchmark indexes in Singapore
STI,
Taiwan
Y9999,
and Indonesia
JAKIDX,
advanced.
Japanese investors appeared to take in stride the choice of former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida to head the ruling Liberal Democrats and thus become the next prime minister.
China Evergrande Group’s
3333,
shares fell as reports said the company, which is struggling to whittle down its debt, was likely to miss another payment on a bond.
Evergrande’s shares had surged Wednesday after it announced it was selling a stake in Shengjing Bank to help repay a 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) its debt to the lender based in northeastern China.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which is used to set interest rates on many kinds of loans, slipped early Thursday to 1.51% from 1.53%.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500
SPX,
rose 0.2% to 4,359.46 after shedding most of a 0.8% gain. The modest gain came a day after the benchmark index posted its worst drop since May. The index is on pace for its first first monthly loss since January.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
also lost momentum, but managed a 0.3% gain to 34,390.72, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite
COMP,
gave back 0.2% to 14,512.44.
Bond yields stabilized after surging over the past week and weighing on the market, especially technology stocks. The higher yields have forced investors to reassess whether prices have run too high for stocks, because it makes them look expensive by comparison.
The broader market has lost ground in September, leaving the S&P 500 down 3.6% for the month with one day left to go.
In other trading Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude oil
CLX21,
lost 11 cents to $74.72 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gave up 46 cents to $74.89 per barrel on Wednesday.
Brent crude oil
BRNX21,
declined 29 cents to $77.80 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar
USDJPY,
slipped to 111.84 Japanese yen from 111.96 yen.
MarketWatch contributed to this report.
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