Asia report: Markets mixed as investors pore through Fed minutes
Markets in Asia finished in a mixed state on Thursday, as investors continued to monitor developments in the Covid-19 pandemic, and digested the latest minutes from the US Federal Reserve, which were released overnight.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was up 0.91% at 26,537.31, as the yen strengthened 0.17% against the dollar to last trade at JPY 104.28.
Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing was down 0.11%, while among the benchmark’s other major components, robotics specialist Fanuc rose 0.06% and technology giant SoftBank Group advanced 3.19%.
The broader Topix index ended the day 0.6% stronger in Tokyo, closing at 1,778.25.
On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite advanced 0.22% to 3,369.73, and the smaller, technology-centric Shenzhen Composite fell 0.39% to 2,245.47.
South Korea’s Kospi was ahead 0.94% at 2,625.91, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong rose 0.56% to 26,819.45.
The blue-chip technology stocks were both stronger in Seoul, with Samsung Electronics up 2.1% and SK Hynix advancing 2.26%.
JD Health revealed details of its planned initial public offering in Hong Kong during the day, revealing that it was looking to sell 381.9 million shares to raise more than $3bn.
The float of the company - a division of Chinese internet giant JD.com - would be the biggest IPO of 2020 in the special administrative region.
Shares in JD.com closed up 0.82% in Hong Kong on Thursday.
The news of the float comes after Ant Group’s much-anticipated IPO was unexpectedly suspended earlier in the month.
The minutes from the US central bank showed Fed officials considering more ways of injecting liquidity into the country’s economy at their meeting earlier in November, as it continued to suffer amid the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the minutes, the Federal Open Market Committee discussed possible changes to the asset purchase programme, and expressed concern about the speed of economic growth.
“The minutes from the early November Fed meeting were posted last night and traders got the impression the central bank might look to give further support to the economy by altering its asset purchases - either by increasing the level of asset purchases or buying longer dated bonds,” said CMC Markets analyst David Madden.
“Jerome Powell, the head of the Fed, said it still has a lot of ‘ammunition’ in reserve to help the economy.”
Madden noted that, despite the “mildly dovish” nature of the update, the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 finished slightly lower as traders were content to square up their books ahead of the holiday.
“The Nasdaq 100 hit its highest level in over two weeks, but then again tech stocks have underperformed lately.”
Oil prices were lower as the region went to bed, with Brent crude last down 1.17% at $48.04 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate 1.29% lower at $45.12.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.7% to 6,636.40, while across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 was off 0.52% at 12,602.02.
The down under dollars were both marginally weaker against the greenback, with the Aussie last off 0.05% at AID 1.3583, and the Kiwi retreating 0.01% to NZD 1.4273.