The Reserve Bank of India on August 6, 2023
Punit Paranjpe | Afp | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Thursday after U.S. stock benchmarks declined overnight, while investors assessed trade data from Japan and awaited India’s rate decision.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.60%, while the S&P 500 declined 0.77% on Wednesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.05%. All indexes had been up earlier in the session before Nvidia and other big technology stocks fell.
Global equities and currencies plunged earlier this week after the Bank of Japan hiked interest rates to their highest levels since 2008, and the U.S. released weaker-than-expected employment numbers.
On Thursday, investors in Asia will assess trade data from Japan and interest rate decision from the Reserve Bank of India.
The Reserve Bank of India is expected to hold rates steady at 6.5% for a ninth straight meeting.
Japan’s current account surplus for June came in at 1.533 trillion yen ($10.2 billion), lower than the 1.789 trillion yen expected by economists polled by Reuters.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 reversed losses to gain 0.17%, while the broad-based Topix also rose 0.16%.
The Bank of Japan released a summary of opinions from their monetary policy meeting in July, revealing that some BOJ members had proposed more rate hikes.
“Assuming that the price stability target will be achieved in the second half of fiscal 2025, the Bank should raise the policy interest rate to the level of the neutral interest rate toward that time,” the summary read.
The level of the neutral rate appears to be at least around 1% with the Bank needing to raise the policy interest rate in a timely and gradual manner, it added.
However, Shinichi Uchida, BOJ deputy governor, said on Wednesday that given the recent shocks to stock prices and foreign exchange rates in the country, the bank needs to maintain monetary easing with the current policy interest rate.
Japanese technology investor SoftBank Group said in a statement on Wednesday that it would buy back up to 500 billion yen ($3.4 billion) of its shares, as part of its efforts to boost shareholder returns. Its shares were down over 3.3% in trading.
Semiconductor equipment manufacturer Lasertec led gains on the Nikkei, up 22.6%, after it posted upbeat financial results for the year ending in June. The company reported a 39.7% increase in net sales and a 30.6% increase in operating income.
Mainland China’s CSI 300 was down 0.17%, but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also reversed losses to climb 0.53%.
Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong’s largest airline, said on Wednesday that it would buy 30 Airbus A330-900 wide-body aircrafts, with an option to buy another 30. The average price of each aircraft is estimated to be about $11 billion, with deliveries expected by the end of 2031.
South Korea’s Kospi was down over 0.5%, while the small-cap Kosdaq dipped marginally.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.5%.
—CNBC’s Brian Evans and Hakyung Kim contributed to this report.