Asian Shares

Asian shares were mixed on Thursday after Wall Street closed lower following the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike decision for the first time in three years. US futures were higher. The quarter of a percentage point increase brings the Fed's key rate to a target range of 3.75%-4.00%, as it attempts to control US inflation that's been stubbornly above its target. Japan's Nikkei 225 index was 0.2% higher at 64,067.53. South Korea's Kospi gained 0.9% to 6,778.49. The Hong Kong Hang Seng fell 0.7% to 24,533.46, while the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.4% to 3,877.46. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.3% to 8,718.20. Taiwan's Taiex jumped 1.3%, while India's Sensex edged up 0.3%. On Wednesday, Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 dropped 0.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.2%, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite was mostly unchanged. Market reactions were "pretty much expected since the rate rise was also in line with market expectation," said Lorraine Tan, director

Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 slumped 0.5%, marking its second consecutive day of declines as the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond hit its highest level since 2007

Asian equities struggled as investors assessed rising oil prices, West Asia tensions and concerns over AI development ahead of key US and Japan central bank meetings

SoftBank, Kioxia, SK Hynix and other AI-linked stocks fell in Asian trade after Anthropic's Dario Amodei, Elon Musk and Sam Altman backed calls to slow AI development

With shipping through the strait and the Bab el-Mandeb under threat, analysts fear oil prices could stay elevated for a lengthy period, stoking inflation globally

MSCI's Asia-Pacific index fell 1 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei and South Korea's KOSPI dropped more than 1 per cent as investors weighed higher oil prices and the outlook for US monetary policy

Japan's ​Nikkei 225 fluctuated between gains and losses before edging up 0.2%, as the yen jumped ‌as much as 0.6% to 153.51, its strongest level since February 18

In Asia, enthusiasm for tech stocks saw Japan's Nikkei rebound 2.2 per cent, after losing a similar amount last week, while South Korea rallied 3.1 per cent

Asian shares rose as investors awaited key US jobs data, while the yen rallied 2.6% this week after Fed Governor Christopher Waller eased fears of a rate hike

Brent crude futures extended gains into a second day as trading resumed in Asia, rising 0.7 per cent to $95.34 a barrel after the US launched a barrage of airstrikes on Iran

Asian stocks fell as renewed US-Iran fighting pushed Brent crude above $90 a barrel, while hawkish Fed signals lifted bets on a September rate hike

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares excluding Japan was up 0.7 per cent, on track to ‌extend gains into a third consecutive day after Nvidia reported that quarterly revenue more than doubled

Investors awaited Nvidia's second-quarter earnings later in the day, with the focus on whether the massive AI spending boom is sustainable and can turn profits that will satisfy markets

The tech sector is holding its breath for Nvidia's results ‌on Wednesday; investors are aware how hard it will be for the chipmaker to meet lofty expectations

The ​entire tech sector is holding its breath for Nvidia's results on Wednesday; investors are aware how hard ​it will be for the chip maker to meet stratospheric expectations

Yields on US ​Treasuries had resumed their climb after Wednesday's surprise intervention by Treasury brought barely a day of relief from selling

Asian shares advanced Thursday, tracking Wall Street gains, and South Korea's benchmark Kospi jumped more than 6 per cent. US futures edged higher after the Treasury Department said it would at least double the size of planned purchases of longer-term government debt. That could ease pressure on share prices emanating from the bond market since the purchases would push bond prices higher, helping to bring down yields. The Kospi surged 6.1 per cent to 6,858.91 after sinking 5.8 per cent on Wednesday on renewed selling of shares related to artificial intelligence. Samsung Electronics jumped 9.7 per cent, while memory chipmaker SK Hynix surged 14.1 per cent after the company announced a significant share buyback plan. Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 1.3 per cent to 66,178.26, reversing declines earlier in the week. Japan reported it logged a trade deficit for a third straight month in July, as both imports and exports hit record highs. Shares of OpenAI investor SoftBank Group, a Japanese

Shares slipped Wednesday in Asia after Wall Street pulled further from its all-time high as artificial-intelligence stocks resumed their decline. South Korea's Kospi led the regional retreat, dropping 5.2 per cent to 6,515.97. The two biggest companies benefiting from the AI boom tracked losses for their US rivals. Samsung Electronics shed 6.9 per cent, while memory chipmaker SK Hynix tumbled 7.9 per cent. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 sank 2.6 per cent to 65,703.78. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.4 per cent to 25,382.66, while the Shanghai Composite index shed 1.5 per cent to 3,927.70. Taiwan's Taiex fell 1.4 per cent, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.4 per cent to 9,083.70. Apart from renewed jitters over criticism that AI-related stocks have shot too high, rising oil prices also were clouding market sentiment. Crude prices have been swinging sharply due to uncertainty about when and whether the United States and Iran can reach a deal to allow oil tankers to exit the Persian .

On Monday, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat, while Japan's Nikkei edged 0.4% higher

Asian equities gained after US consumer prices rose in line with expectations, while oil prices held near $80 a barrel amid a standoff between Washington and Tehran