Mixed Trading On Asian Bourses Amid Tech Losses On Wall St

Bangkok: Shares were mixed on Thursday in Asia after stocks on Wall Street retreated, weighed down by losses for technology shares.Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.7 per cent to 38,400.00 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.8 per cent to 8,473.30. South Korea’s Kospi was unchanged at 2,503.01 after the central bank cut its benchmark interest rate to relieve pressure on the economy.

The Bank of Korea cut its key rate by a quarter percentage point to 3 per cent and lowered its outlook for the country’s economic growth from to 2.2 per cent from 2.4 per cent for this year and to 1.9 per cent from 2.1 per cent for 2025. Chinese shares fell as investors sold to lock in profits from recent gains. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 1.3 per cent to 19,344.07 and the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.3 per cent to 3,299.87.

US markets will be closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving and will reopen for a half day on Friday. On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.4 per cent to 5,998.74, even though more stocks in the index notched gains than ended lower. The loss snapped a seven-day winning streak for the benchmark index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3 per cent, its first loss after five gains, to 44,722.06. The Dow and S&P 500 remain near the all-time highs they set on Tuesday. The Nasdaq composite, which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, fell 0.6 per cent to 19,060.48. Losses for tech heavyweights like Nvidia, Microsoft and Broadcom were the drag on the market.