Hong Kong, Shanghai start day on tepid note
Hong Kong stock and mainland Chinese markets were barely moved at the open Thursday, with traders looking for inspiration to extend their latest rally following a soft lead from Wall Street.
The Hang Seng Index inched down 7.61 points to 18,306.25.
The Shanghai Composite Index was also flat, ticking 0.32 points lower to 3,128.16, while the Shenzhen Composite Index on China’s second exchange slid 0.24 points to 1,772.59.
Asia shares steady after solid China trade data
Asian shares steadied on Thursday after solid Chinese trade data added to signs domestic demand in the world’s second-largest economy is picking up, while the yen stabilised after three days of declines as Japan talked up potential currency interventions.
Later in the day, the Bank of England (BoE) will decide its interest rate policy, with all eyes on the prospects of a June rate cut following the overnight move by Sweden’s Riksbank to cut rates, which underlined Europe’s divergence from the US Federal Reserve.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.1 percent, hovering not far from a 15-month high hit earlier in the week after Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated a stance for policy easing later this year.
Australian shares retreat as miners
Australian shares snapped a five-session rally on Thursday, pulled down by miners, banks and healthcare stocks, while top lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) lost ground after reporting a lower quarterly profit.
The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.5 percent to 7,768.400 by 0029 GMT, with the resources-heavy bourse also tracking Wall Street’s overnight losses.
The Australian benchmark index had closed 0.1 percent higher on Wednesday.
Financials fell 1 percent, with Westpac down 4.5 percent on trading ex-dividend.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia slipped 0.8 percent after reporting a drop in its third-quarter profit. Mining stocks shed 0.4 percent after iron ore prices fell on Wednesday amid increasing inventories.
BHP Group fell 0.3 percent, while Rio Tinto lost 0.3 percent.
Healthcare stocks slumped 1.2 percent, with biotech giant CSL down 1.2 percent.
Real estate stocks lost 0.3 percent, while gold stocks fell 0.8 percent as traders looked for more clues on the US rate-cut timeline.
Meanwhile, energy stocks rose 0.5 percent as global oil prices steadied aided by a fall in US crude inventories.
Oil and gas giant Woodside Energy rose 0.7 percent.
L&T drags Indian bluechips at open
Indian shares edged lower on Thursday, dragged by losses in construction major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) after a downbeat fiscal 2025 revenue growth outlook, while elevated volatility fuelled investor pessimism.
The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 fell 0.2 percent to 22,264 while S&P BSE Sensex shed 0.2 percent to 73,311 as of 9:23 a.m IST.
L&T, among top Nifty heavyweights, dropped as much as 5.6 percent in early trade and was on track to be the top percentage loser on the benchmark after it forecast a subdued revenue growth outlook.
Meanwhile, India’s volatility index rose 2.6 percent to 17.51, setting the stage to gain for an eleventh straight session, as uncertainty around the results of national elections led to relentless foreign selling, keeping investors jittery.
Japanese shares rises
Japanese shares rose on Thursday, rebounding from declines in the previous session, with investors scooping up value stocks in anticipation that higher interest rates would dent growth stocks.
The Nikkei was up 0.5 percent at 38,392.1 by the midday break, while the broader Topix was up 0.76 percent at 2727.05.
The Bank of Japan board members turned overwhelmingly hawkish at their April policy meeting, with many calling for the need to raise rates steadily, a summary of opinions at the meeting showed.
“The summary was more hawkish than the Governor (Kazuo) Ueda sounded after the policy meeting last month,” said Shuutarou Yasuda, a market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory.
“That raised speculation that the BOJ will raise interest rates earlier than the market expected.”
Tokyo shares end down
Tokyo stocks fell Wednesday on profit-taking with Nintendo and Sony down sharply and investors focused on Toyota’s cautious earnings outlook.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gave up 1.63 percent, or 632.73 points, to 38,202.37, while the broader Topix index fell 1.45 percent, or 39.79 points, to 2,706.43.
Investors were keeping a close eye on forex markets as the yen weakened following Friday’s rally, which came at the end of a volatile week that led to speculation Japanese authorities had intervened to support the unit.
“Falls of US high tech shares impacted investors’ risk sentiment,” Daiwa Securities said.
Investors squared their positions as “the corporate earnings season kicked into full gear while they remained cautious about possible forex interventions”, IwaiCosmo Securities said.
Toyota reported record profits for the fiscal year to March, but cautioned earnings would fall over the next 12 months because of investments.
Abu Dhabi leads as Gulf bourses end higher
Most stock markets in the Gulf ended higher on Wednesday, led by the Abu Dhabi index as strong corporate earnings lifted the investor sentiment despite falling oil prices.
In Abu Dhabi, the benchmark index advanced 1.2 percent, the highest intraday rise in over four months, with First Abu Dhabi Bank, the UAE’s largest lender, climbing 1.6 percent.
International Holding Company rose 1.3 percent to 405 dirhams per share, its highest level since mid-Jan.
IHC, Abu Dhabi’s largest listed conglomerate reported an 88 percent rise in quarterly net profit on Monday evening and said it would buy back up to 5 billion dirhams ($1.36 billion) worth of its shares.
Dubai’s benchmark index rose 0.9 percent, helped by gains in most sectors. The blue-chip developer Emaar Properties added 2.4 percent and Dubai Taxi gained 2.7 percent after the Emirate’s largest taxi operator reported a 14.8 percent increase in first quarter net profit.