Asia report: Markets mixed as investors weigh Beige Book

Asian markets ended mixed on Thursday, with investors weighing the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book and what it means for interest rates in the United States.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was down 0.32% to 16,958.77, with the yen remaining strong.

It was last ahead 0.2% at JPY 101.54 per $1.

The country’s second-quarter gross domestic product growth was revised up to 0.7% during the day, from the initial estimate of 0.2%.

Tokyo-listed shares in gaming giant Nintendo soared 13.2% after news that the Super Mario Run mobile game will hit the Apple app store in December.

US-listed shares in Nintendo were up 28% after the announcement.

Deutsche Bank research analyst Han Joon Kim said Nintendo’s stock has stabilised from its initial explosion following the launch of Pokemon Go.

“The fact remains that Nintendo is on the cusp of a major product cycle in both consoles and smartphones.

“In coming months, we expect to see the fruits of Nintendo's R&D efforts and are excited at the prospect of Nintendo delivering a strong market share share recovery with it.”

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.15% at 3,096.60, while the Shenzhen Composite finished up 0.27% at 2,050.80.

Beijing released stronger-than-expected trade data for the People’s Republic for August, with renminbi-denominated exports rising 5.9% year-on-year, and imports growing 10.8%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was last up 0.75% at 23,919.34, and in Korea the Kospi added 0.09% to 2,063.73.

In the US, the key Beige Book - which measures economic health - showed moderate wage growth.

“"Despite the hawkish tone of Fed officials, bets for a September hike have eased to 32 percent on last Friday's lower-than-expected U.S. nonfarm payrolls, and to 22 percent yesterday after the disappointing ISM non-manufacturing report on Tuesday and yesterday's Fed Beige Book striking a modest and moderate tone on the outlook for the US economy and inflation,” noted DBS analysts.

Oil prices were ahead, with Brent crude last up 1.64% at $48.78 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate adding 1.83% to $46.35.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.71% to close at 5,385.80, with the energy and materials subindexes losing 1.38% and 1.43% respectively, while the weighty financials were down 0.44%.

The sunburnt country saw its trade deficit narrow to AUD 2.4bn in July, as exports rose 3% and imports remained flat.

Analysts were expecting a wider deficit of AUD 2.7bn.

In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 fell 0.5% to 7,534.72, led lower by local insurer Tower, which lost 19% to settle at a 12-year low.

The firm warned of expectations for a NZD 16.2m hit on its after-tax profit on Thursday, as a result of increased claims provisions for the Christchurch earthquake, which destroyed much of the South Island city in February 2011.

It blamed the increase on greater-than-expected claims from New Zealand’s state-owned mandatory disaster insurance provider, the Earthquake Commission, as well as an uptick in litigation and customer disputes.

The down under dollars were both stronger on the greenback, with the Kiwi last 0.25% ahead at NZD 1.3387 per $1 and the Aussie 0.67% stronger at AUD 1.2946.