Asia report: Stocks mixed, CNOOC soars on Shanghai debut

Markets in Asia closed mixed on Thursday, with China’s bourses leading the losses, as investors were left still holding their breath for signals of policy support from Beijing.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was up 1.23% at 27,553.06, as the yen weakened 0.19% against the dollar to last trade at JPY 128.10.

Tech investing giant SoftBank Group was down 0.85%, while among the benchmark’s other major components, robotics specialist Fanuc was up 1.88% and Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing jumped 2.76%.

The broader Topix index was ahead 0.67% by the end of trading in Tokyo, closing at 1,928.00.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite slid 2.26% to 3,079.81, and the smaller, technology-heavy Shenzhen Composite lost 3.11% to 1,923.81.

Chinese oil player CNOOC rocketed on its debut day in Shanghai, surging as high as 44% during the session to reach a price limit and trigger a 30-minute trading halt on the stock.

CNOOC ended the session up 27.7% on the Chinese mainland’s largest exchange.

Sentiment remained dented in China, however, after the People’s Bank left its main interest rates on hold on Wednesday, going against market expectations for a rate cut.

The country was still grappling with its worst outbreak of Covid-19 since the earliest stages of the pandemic, with its economic heart of Shanghai being the worst affected.

Beijing’s politburo was sticking firm on its ‘zero-Covid’ policy of responding to any outbreak with severe social and business restrictions and lockdowns, while many other countries were shifting to more liberal post-vaccine ‘living with Covid’ policies.

“There was some disappointment in the Asian region as China left interest rates unchanged,” said Interactive Investor head of markets Richard Hunter.

“[This is] despite previous pledges to support an economy which has come under renewed pressure following a surge of Covid-19 cases, [which] resulted in more lockdowns across some key industrial areas.”

South Korea’s Kospi managed gains of 0.35% to 2,728,21, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong lost 1.25% to 20,682.22.

Despite the company’s stellar debut in Shanghai, CNOOC’s Hong Kong-traded shares ended the day 2.51% weaker.

The blue-chip technology stocks were on the front foot, with Samsung Electronics up 0.45% and SK Hynix rising 0.44%.

Oil prices were higher as the region went to bed, with Brent crude futures last up 1.15% on ICE at $108.03 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate rising 1% on NYMEX to $103.22.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.31% to 7,592.80, while across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 slipped 0.1% to 11,954.00.

The down under dollars were both weaker against the greenback, with the Aussie last off 0.03% at AUD 1.3425, and the Kiwi retreating 0.17% to NZD 1.4713.