Asian Markets Trade Mixed

Following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, Asian stock markets are trading mixed on Thursday, as traders reacted to GDP data from Japan and Singapore that missed estimates, with Japan unexpectedly slipping into recession. Australia also posted sharply lower-than-expected employment growth, with unemployment rate also rising. Asian Markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday.

Recouping some of the losses in the previous four sessions, the Australian stock market is significantly higher on Thursday, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving to a tad below the 7,600 level, with gains in technology and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 50.10 points or 0.66 percent to 7,597.80, after touching a high of 7,621.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 50.80 points or 0.65 percent to 7,841.30. Australian stocks ended significantly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto is edging down 0.4 percent and BHP Group is losing almost 2 percent, while Mineral Resources is adding almost 1 percent and Fortescue Metals is gaining more than 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mixed. Woodside Energy is losing almost 1 percent and Santos is edging down 0.5 percent, while Origin Energy is gaining almost 3 percent and Beach energy is edging up 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Appen is surging more than 5 percent, Xero is adding almost 5 percent, Afterpay owner Block is advancing almost 4 percent and WiseTech Global is gaining more than 4 percent, while Zip is losing almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking are all gaining almost 1 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is gaining almost 1 percent, Gold Road Resources is adding more than 1 percent, Newmont is edging up 0.4 percent and Resolute Mining is advancing more than 2 percent, while Northern Star Resources is edging down 0.1 percent.

In other news, shares in Altium are skyrocketing 28 percent after the software play received a A$9.1 billion takeover bid from Japanese group Renesas.

In economic news, the unemployment rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 4.1 percent in January, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. That was above expectations for 4.0 percent and was up from 3.9 percent in December.

The Australian economy added just 500 jobs last month to 14,201,900 – well shy of forecasts for an increase of 26,400 jobs following the loss of 65,100 jobs in the previous month. The participation rate were 66.8 percent, unchanged but shy of forecasts for 66.9 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.649 on Thursday.

Recouping the losses in the previous session, the Japanese market is significantly higher on Thursday, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving well above the 37,900 level, with gains in index heavyweights and technology stocks amid strong domestic corporate earnings and outlook, despite domestic data showing Japan unexpectedly slipped into recession.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 37,948.35, up 245.03 points or 0.65 percent, after touching a fresh 34-year high of 38,127.85 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding almost 2 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is losing almost 1 percent, while Honda is adding almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 2 percent, while Tokyo Electron and Screen Holdings are advancing almost 4 percent each.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining more than 1 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Canon is edging down 0.1 percent and while Mitsubishi Electric is gaining almost 3 percent. Panasonic is flat. Sony is plummeting more than 8 percent after it reduced its full-year outlook for the gaming division, particularly slashing PlayStation 5 sales outlook.

Among other major gainers, Ebara is skyrocketing almost 16 percent, Rakuten Group soaring almost 15 percent, MS&AD Insurance Group is surging almost 14 percent, Sumitomo Heavy Industries is advancing almost 11 percent and Resonac Holdings is rising more than 7 percent, while Sompo Holdings and Tokio Marine are gaining almost 7 percent each. Kubota is adding almost 6 percent and Nitto Denko is gaining almost 5 percent, while T&D Holdings and Shin-Etsu Chemical are adding more than 4 percent each. Idemitsu Kosan is up almost 4 percent.

Conversely, BANDAI NAMCO is plummeting almost 15 percent, Toppan Holdings is plunging almost 10 percent, Sapporo Holdings is sliding more than 8 percent, Takara Holdings is declining more than 6 percent, Kirin Holdings is slipping almost 5 percent and Olympus is losing more than 4 percent, while Nippon Express and Eisai are down almost 4 percent each. Yamaha, Nippon Paper Industries and Fujikura are losing more than 3 percent each, while Alps Alpine, Shiseido and Asahi Group are declining almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, Japan’s gross domestic product contracted by a seasonally adjusted 0.1 percent on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2023, the Cabinet Office said on Thursday. That missed expectations for an increase of 0.2 percent following the downwardly revised 0.8 percent decline in the third quarter (originally -0.7 percent). On an annualized basis, GDP slipped 0.4 percent following the downwardly revised 3.3 percent drop in the three months prior (originally -2.9 percent).

Capital expenditure fell 0.1 percent on quarter after slipping 0.6 in Q3, while external demand rose 0.2 percent after easing 0.1 percent in the previous three months. The GDP price index was up 3.8 percent on year, down from 5.8 percent – while private consumption was down 0.2 percent on quarter after slipping 0.3 percent in the third quarter..

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 150 yen-range on Thursday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Taiwan and Indonesia are up 2.8 and 1.5 percent, respectively. Hong Kong and Singapore are up 0.2 and 0.6 percent, respectively. New Zealand, South Korea and Malaysia are lower by between 0.1 and 0.3 percent each. China remains closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a strong move back to the upside during trading on Wednesday, partly offsetting the sell-off seen in the previous session. The major averages all moved higher on the day, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the rebound.

After plunging by 1.8 percent Tuesday’s trading, the Nasdaq surged 203.55 points or 1.3 percent to 15,859.15. The S&P 500 also jumped 47.45 points or 1.0 percent to 5,000.62, while the Dow climbed 151.52 points or 0.4 percent at 38,424.27.

The major European markets all also have moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index has risen by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index are both up by 0.7 percent.

Crude oil prices settled lower on Wednesday, snapping a seven-day winning streak after data showed a big increase in crude inventories in the U.S. last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended down $1.23 or about 1.6 percent at $76.64 a barrel.