Asia markets were mostly higher on Thursday morning following a muted performance on Wall Street overnight.
The Nikkei 225 traded up by 0.36 percent in the morning, while the Topix index advanced by 0.78 percent, with most sectors seeing gains.
Following an announcement Tuesday that Toyota and Softbank would be holding a joint news conference, shares of Toyota were up by 1.97 percent in the morning while Softbank’s stock rose by 2.13 percent.
Down Under, the ASX 200 traded higher by 0.46 percent, with the heavily weighted financial sector seeing gains of 1.02 percent as Commonwealth Bank of Australia advanced by 0.88 percent and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group was up by 1.02 percent.
In South Korea, however, the Kospi slid by 0.69 percent in the morning, following news reports that Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol hinted at a possible policy rate hike later in October.
China’s markets are closed for the Golden Week holidays.
In market action on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 54.45 points to close at 26,828.39. The index hit an all-time intraday high earlier in the trading day at 26,951.81. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 closed largely flat at 2,925.51 while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.32 percent to end the trading day at approximately 8,025.09.
On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the U.S. central bank was “a long way” from neutral on interest rates during a question-and-answer session with Judy Woodruff of Public Broadcasting Service.
Also on Wednesday, a report from ADP and Moody’s Analytics showed private payrolls in the U.S. increasing by 230,000 in September — the highest in seven months. This was compared to a number of 185,000 jobs expected by economists polled by Refinitiv (formerly Thomson Reuters). The report is often seen as a preview to the government’s nonfarm payrolls report, which is set for release on Friday.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of peers, was at 96.035 as of 8:14 a.m. HK/SIN, close to its earlier high following an overnight rally.
The Japanese yen traded stronger at 114.42 against the dollar, while the Australian dollar slipped by 0.11 percent to $0.7094, as of 8:15 a.m. HK/SIN.
In oil markets, prices fell in the early hours of Asian trade. The global benchmark Brent crude futures contract fell by 0.48 percent to $85.88 per barrel, while the U.S. crude futures contract slid by 0.38 percent to $76.12 per barrel.
Here is a look at the economic data being released in the trading day ahead:
- Australia — Trade data for August at 9:30 a.m. HK/SIN
— CNBC’s Fred Imbert and Reuters contributed to this report.
