Nikkei dropped 0.7% to 39,794.13 yen, S&P/ASX 200 rose about 0.1% to 7,740.80, Kospi rose 0.5% to 2,654.45, Hang Seng Index fell 0.1% to 16,417.39, while the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.5% to 3,053.72
Asian stocks were mostly higher in early trading Thursday as Wall Street pared some of the losses from the previous day.
The Nikkei Stock Average, Japan’s benchmark, briefly hit a record high in early trading, but has since fallen 0.7% to 39,794.13 yen. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose about 0.1% to 7,740.80. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.5% to 2,654.45. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.1% to 16,417.39, while the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.5% to 3,053.72.
The positive handover from Wall Street, alongside lower Treasury yields and a weaker U.S. dollar, may offer some relief as Fed Chair’s testimony failed to drive much hawkish deviation from his usual script, said Yeap Jun Rong, market analyst at IG.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated that interest rate cuts are possible this year, but the Fed needs more data showing inflation is cooling before taking action.
The S&P 500 Index rose 26.11 points (0.5%) to 5,104.76. The previous day, the benchmark index fell by 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 75.86 points, or 0.2%, to $38,661.05. The Nasdaq Composite rose 91.95 (0.6%) to 16,031.54.
Nvidia rose 3.2% and was the biggest driver of the S&P 500 index. Metaplatform was also stable, rising 1.2% after a daily decline of 1.6%. Due to their huge size, they are one of the most influential stocks on the market.
Big tech stocks contributed disproportionately to pushing the S&P 500 index to a record high on expectations that strong growth will continue. That led to a painful sell-off earlier this week as hopes grew that the company would justify its higher share prices.
CrowdStrike rose 10.8% after the cybersecurity company reported profit that beat analysts’ expectations for its latest quarter. Some predicted that future earnings would exceed Wall Street expectations.
