Global stocks mixed

Bangkok: Japan’s Nikkei 225 share benchmark surged on Thursday to an all-time high, bypassing its previous record set in December 1989 on heavy buying by global investors. By early afternoon it was up 1.9 per cent at 38,997.23. The Nikkei 225’s previous record was 38,915.87, set just before Japan’s bubble economy collapsed in the early 1990s. Japanese shares have logged sharp gains in recent months, helped by strong interest from foreign investors who account for the majority of trading volume on the Tokyo exchange. Record gains in corporate earnings have enhanced the appeal of shares in Japanese companies. The weakness of the Japanese yen against the US dollar has also attracted investors, despite prolonged weakness in the economy, which slipped back into a technical recession late last year.

Elsewhere in Asia, shares were mixed. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.3 per cent to 16,452.34 and the Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1 per cent higher, to 2,952.76. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.1 per cent at 7,598.00, while the Kospi in Seoul added 0.2 per cent to 2,659.21. On Wednesday, stocks ended mostly higher on Wall Street after a listless day of trading with big technology stocks again acting as a heavy weight on the market. The S&P 500 rose 0.1 per cent to 4,981.80. The benchmark index spent much of the day in losing territory before climbing higher just before markets closed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also eked out a slight gain after losing ground most of the day. It rose 0.1 per cent, to 38,612.24. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite fell 0.3 per cent, to 15,580.87. Earnings remained the big focus.

After markets closed, Nvidia reported earnings and revenue that handily beat Wall Street forecasts. The chipmaker has tripled over the past year thanks to a surge in investor enthusiasm over artificial intelligence. Palo Alto Networks was a big loser and a particularly heavy weight on the tech sector.