HONG KONG (AP) – Asian shares exhibited a mixed performance on Thursday following a cooling off of Wall Street's strong start to the year. In early trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index saw a decline of 1%, settling at 51,660.50. Technology stocks led this downward trend, while South Korea's Kospi index increased by 0.6% to reach 4,576.95, both indices having hit all-time highs earlier in the week.
The benchmark Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell by 1.2% to 26,136.49, but shares of OpenAI's Chinese rival, Zhipu, saw a positive start, rising 3.3% during its trading debut. Meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite index edged up nearly 0.1% to 4,089.45. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose by 0.2% to 8,712.90, and Taiwan's Taiex mirrored this gain, also up by 0.2%.
Wall Street’s optimism faded on Wednesday, partly influenced by new comments from President Donald Trump, which could potentially restrict large investors from purchasing single-family homes. This news had ramifications across the market, leading to a modest decline in the S&P 500, which dropped 0.3% from its all-time high, closing at 6,920.93. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 0.9% to 48,996.08, while the Nasdaq composite increased slightly by 0.2%, finishing at 23,584.27.
Trump announced he would take measures to prevent large institutional investors from acquiring single-family homes in a bid to address the ongoing housing affordability crisis in the U.S. This move negatively impacted homebuilders, with shares of D.R. Horton dropping by 3.6% and PulteGroup falling by 3.2%.
In corporate news, Warner Bros. Discovery on Wednesday turned down a revised buyout bid from Paramount, encouraging its shareholders to support Netflix's offer instead. Following this announcement, shares of Warner Bros. Discovery rose by 0.4%, while Netflix gained 0.1%. However, Paramount Skydance saw a decline of 1%.
Oil prices experienced an uptick on Thursday following the U.S. seizure of two oil tankers, as the Trump administration aimed to assert control over Venezuelan oil. This was in conjunction with Trump's previous remarks stating that Venezuela would supply between 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S. Consequently, benchmark U.S. crude climbed by 0.2% to $56.22 per barrel, while Brent crude rose by 0.3% to $60.22 per barrel.
Oil prices have shown volatility this week as markets react to the geopolitical changes following the ousting of Nicolás Maduro as Venezuela’s president – a country known for having some of the largest oil reserves globally.
In bond markets, U.S. Treasury yields exhibited fluctuations amid mixed economic reports. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note decreased to 4.14% from 4.18%, whereas the yield on the two-year note remained stable at 3.46%. One report indicated a stronger-than-expected increase in U.S. services sector activity for December. However, other reports painted a mixed picture of the job market, indicating significantly fewer job openings in November compared to the previous month, while another report noted a gain of 41,000 jobs in December.
The U.S. Labor Department is set to release its monthly job report for December on Friday, which could provide more detailed insights into the employment landscape.
In currency dealings early on Thursday, the dollar depreciated to 156.66 yen, down from 156.77 yen. In contrast, the euro rose to $1.1683, an increase from $1.1677.
