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BEIJING (AP) – Asian stock markets were mixed on Thursday after Wall Street peaked and new daily cases of coronavirus in the US hit an all-time high.
Tokyo and Seoul fell while Shanghai and Hong Kong advanced.
Wall Street won on Wednesday for its 70th all-time high of 2021.
Optimism was dampened by data showing new virus cases in the US have risen to an average of 265,000 a day, driven largely by the more contagious omicron variant.
Markets are “clinging to flimsy optimism” as health care sources are doing a “balancing act,” Mizuho Bank’s Tan Boon Heng said in a report.
The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.8% to 3,625.46, while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo lost less than 0.1% to 28,886.09. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 0.7% to 23,237.27 points.
The Kospi in Seoul fell 0.2% to 2,987.84 and the S&P-ASX 200 in Sydney fell less than 0.1% to 7,504.90. New Zealand and Bangkok won while Singapore and Jakarta withdrew.
Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index rose 0.1% to 4,793.06. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% to 36,488.63. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.1% to 15,766.22.
The S&P 500 is on track to gain more than 27% in 2021.
The benchmark, which also set records on Monday and December 23, reached more new highs in 2021 than in any year since the 77 in 1954. The Dow set a record early November.
Investors were encouraged by higher corporate earnings and advances in vaccine and virus treatment development.
That was tempered by the Federal Reserve’s decision to try to cool US inflation, which has been high for nearly four decades, by reversing the stimulus measures that have pushed stock prices up.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was boosted by gains in healthcare, technology and consumer-oriented stocks.
Biogen jumped 9.5% for the largest gain in the index. Target, Nike, supermarket operator Kroger and automaker AutoZone rose 1.3% or more.
Facebook parent Meta Platforms fell 0.9%, Exxon Mobil fell 0.9% and Morgan Stanley fell 1.2%.
Trading was lighter as investors closed positions for the year. Fewer than 3 billion shares were traded on the New York Stock Exchange, compared to a typical daily average of 4.5 billion.
Investor concerns about the omicron variant eased after researchers said it appears to cause less severe symptoms and President Joe Biden avoided travel or announcing other restrictions that could weigh on economic activity.
Still, markets are uncertain about the impact of ommicron, which is spreading rapidly and quickly becoming the dominant variant.
In the energy markets, the US benchmark crude rose 38 cents to $76.95 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract was up 58 cents to $76.56 on Wednesday. Brent oil, the price base for international oils, rose 38 cents in London to $79.59 a barrel. It closed 29 cents higher at $79.23 from the previous session.
The dollar rose to 115.02 yen from 114.97 yen on Wednesday. The euro rose to $1.1349 from $1.1344.
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