Asian stock markets were mixed in early trading Thursday following overnight declines in U.S. stock prices and Treasury yields. But the declines were generally less than 0.5%, including in Japan, where the Nikkei fell nearly 1% in the opening minutes of trade.
The Nikkei NIK, -0.19% was last down 0.4%, with electronics and financials leading the way lower. Panasonic 6752, -1.01% was down 1%, hitting fresh two-year lows, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial 8306, -3.37% and Resona 8308, -2.79% fell some 3%, as did SoftBank 9984, -2.82% . Toshiba 6502, +3.39% , however, was up 3% at another two-year high following its latest stock-buyback announcement.
Chinese stock benchmarks turned solidly higher, continuing recent outperformance, with sentiment continuing to be helped by planned and possible government action. The Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, +0.86% was up 0.6% and the smaller-cap Shenzhen Composite 399106, +0.93% was 0.4% higher. Oil names rebounded some after a bounce overnight in crude prices.
Hong Kong stocks swung back and forth, and the Hang Seng Index HSI, +0.83% was last up 0.3%, thanks to Tencent’s 0700, +4.04% post-earnings jump. Chinese oil major Cnooc 0883, +1.42% rebounded 1% as crude ticked up overnight. But financials remained under pressure.
Australian stocks XJO, +0.06% fell again, led by financials. Commonwealth Bank CBA, -0.51% and Westpac WBC, -0.43% were each down more than 1%. New Zealand’s benchmark NZ50GR, -0.02% was down slightly.
South Korea’s Kospi SEU, +0.13% was down about 0.1%, while indexes in Singapore STI, +0.26% and Taiwan Y9999, +0.35% were about flat.
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