Asia report: Markets mixed as Japan takes holiday

Japanese markets remained closed for a public holiday, as the yen strengthened 0.04% against the dollar to last trade at JPY 111.18.

It wasn’t a complete corporate holiday, however, with Japan-based steel firm JFE Holdings confirming it was planning a bid for Bhushan Steel, in conjunction with Indian steelmaker JSW Steel.

Bhushan Steel, also based in India, entered bankruptcy protection earlier this year.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite fell 2.26% to 3,352.99, and the smaller, technology-heavy Shenzhen Composite slid 2.92% to 1,924.45.

South Korea’s Kospi was off 0.13% at 2,537.15, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong lost 0.99% to close at 29,707.94.

The Seoul bourse opened an hour late due to a national university entrance exam, with blue-chip technology stocks ending the session down while manufacturers were higher.

Attention was turned to the latest release of minutes from the US Federal Reserve, which showed the central bank’s policymakers were broadly upbeat about the country’s economy.

Concerns over inflation still lingered, however, with a number of Fed members also perturbed by the “potential buildup of financial imbalances”.

Expectations were still almost unanimous for a rate hike in December, with CME Group’s FedWatch showing the likelihood of a raise next month as above 91% on Thursday morning.

“The December rate hike seems as close to a done deal as one can ever get,” noted ING Asia head of research Rob Carnell.

“There was some interesting debate on what to do next year, with the current depleted FOMC camp split on how to operate when the inflation gauge is no longer a reliable pointer.”

In more local economic news, Singapore’s economy grew 8.8% quarter-on-quarter in the three months to 30 September.

The boost, largely driven by strength in the city-state’s manufacturing sector, was well above both the 2.2% growth seen in the second quarter, and the 7.4% growth estimated in a poll conducted by Reuters.

Oil prices were softer during Asian trading, with Brent crude last down 0.64% at $62.92 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate off 0.29% at $57.05.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was flat, finishing just 0.22 points lower than Wednesday at 5,986.19.

The energy and materials subindexes led gains, although they were largely offset by losses from the consumer discretionary and utilities sectors.

Retailers were mixed after reports that US e-commerce giant Amazon was initiating a soft launch in the sunburnt country on Thursday.

Retail conglomerate Woolworths was up 0.25%, while electronics and furniture giant Harvey Norman was 0.26% softer.

Harvey Norman is headed by outspoken retail veteran Gerry Harvey, who has long spoken out against perceived benefits afforded to overseas online retailers such as Amazon.

Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 was down 0.04% at 8,101.95, led lower by infant food and dairy products exporter A2 Milk, which dropped 3% on what local analysts picked as profit-taking.

Both of the down under dollars were stronger on the greenback, with the Aussie last ahead 0.21% at AUD 1.3096 and the Kiwi advancing 0.18% to NZD 1.4501.