· Asia-Pacific stocks mixed following Wall Street bounce
Stocks in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Thursday trading, as shares in Indonesian and China markets fell.
South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.87% to close at 2,396.48. Shares of Kakao Games soared on their debut in South Korea, finishing the trading day at more than double their issue price.
Shares in Australia also advanced on the day, with the S&P/ASX 200 up 0.51% to 5,908.50.
Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index edged 0.48% higher.
· Nikkei ends higher on upbeat machinery orders, U.S. tech rebound
Japanese shares ended higher on Thursday as better-than-expected machinery orders data and Wall Street’s rebound from a three-day losing streak bolstered investor sentiment.
The benchmark Nikkei share average closed 0.88% higher at 23,235.47, with 197 advancers on the index against 25 decliners. The broader Topix gained 1.21% to 1,624.86, marking the highest close since Sept. 3.
Both the indexes clawed back from a 1-1/2-week low marked in the previous session.
Wall Street’s main indexes closed higher overnight as investors jumped back in to take advantage of the pullback in tech-related stocks.
Also underpinning gains, Japan’s core machinery orders, a leading gauge of capital spending, rebounded in July from a sharp fall in the previous month. The Cabinet Office’s data showed July’s core machinery orders grew 6.3%.
· China stocks shed early gains as regulators move to curb speculation
China shares shed early gains to end lower on Thursday, as more than 300 start-ups slumped earlier in the session after regulators moved to curb speculation on the tech-heavy ChiNext board.
Shares in China’s start-up firms plunged as investors retreated after a few stocks were suspended from trading due to “abnormal volatility” amid reports of government measures to crack down on speculation.
The Shanghai Composite index was down 0.61% at 3,234.82, while the blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.06%.
· European markets choppy ahead of ECB meeting; Games Workshop up 17%
European stocks fluctuated Thursday morning ahead of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) latest meeting on monetary policy in the euro zone.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 slid 0.2% below the flatline in early trade, with autos adding 0.6% while basic resources slid 0.7%.
Games Workshop shares rallied more than 17% in early trade after an upbeat three-month trading update, while at the other end of the European blue-chip index, supermarket chain WM Morrison slid 4.5% after reporting a 25.3% fall in first-half profit.
Reference: CNBC, Reuters
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