Asian Markets Mostly Higher

Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Thursday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, as market participants digested the minutes of the US Federal Reserve’s most recent monetary policy meeting. The minutes revealed a “few participants” favored raising rates by 50 basis points versus the 25 basis point rate hike that was ultimately announced. Asian Markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday.

The minutes noted all participants continued to anticipate that ongoing rate increases would be appropriate to achieve the Fed’s dual goals of maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run.

The Australian stock market is modestly lower on Thursday, extending the losses in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 7,300 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness in mining and energy stocks amid tumbling commodity prices.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 24.90 points or 0.34 percent to 7,289.60, after hitting a low of 7,284.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 20.50 points or 0.27 percent to 7,496.50. Australian stocks ended modestly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Fortescue Metals is edging down 0.3 percent and BHP Group is losing almost 3 percent, while Mineral Resources is adding more than 1 percent and OZ Minerals is edging up 0.1 percent. Rio Tinto is losing almost 2 percent after reporting a 41 percent drop in profits in 2022 that came in lower-than expected. It also slashed dividend.

Oil stocks are mostly weak. Beach energy and Santos are losing almost 2 percent each, while Woodside Energy is down almost 1 percent. Origin Energy is adding almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 3 percent, Appen is adding 1.5 percent and WiseTech Global is advancing more than 2 percent, while Zip is losing more than 4 percent and Xero is edging down 0.3 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is gaining more than 1 percent, while Westpac, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are edging down 0.1 to 0.5 percent each.

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources is losing almost 3 percent, Evolution Mining is slipping almost 2 percent, Gold Road Resources is down more than 1 percent and Newcrest Mining is declining almost 1 percent. Resolute Mining is flat.

In other news, shares in Qantas are slipping almost 6 percent despite the airline company swinging to a profit for the six months after three pandemic-impacted years.

In economic news, private new capital expenditure was up a seasonally adjusted 2.2 percent on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2022, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday – coming in at A$35.016 billion. That beat expectations for an increase of 1.3 percent following the 0.6 percent contraction in the previous three months. On a yearly basis, building capex gained 3.8 percent and equipment capex rose 3.4 percent, and total capex was up 3.6 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.683 on Thursday.

The Japanese stock market is closed on account of The Emperor’s Birthday. Japanese stocks closed sharply lower on Wednesday.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 134 yen-range on Thursday.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea and Taiwan are up 1.2 and 1.1 percent, respectively. New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia are higher by between 0.1 and 0.6 percent each. Singapore is bucking the trend and is down 0.4 percent. China is relatively flat.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Wednesday after ending the previous session sharply lower. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing mixed.

While the Nasdaq crept up 14.77 points or 0.1 percent to 11,507.07, the S&P 500 edged down 6.29 points or 0.2 percent to 3,991.05 and the Dow dipped 84.50 points or 0.3 percent to 33,045.09.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index has slid by 0.8 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index are down by 0.5 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Wednesday, extending their losing streak to six consecutive sessions on concerns about the outlook for global demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery plunged $2.41 or 3.1 percent to $73.95 a barrel on its first day as the front month contract.

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