Asian Markets Mostly Gain Following Wall Street’s Momentum Slowdown

MANILA – Asian shares were mixed on Thursday, with major markets mostly higher despite overnight losses on Wall Street.

U.S. futures edged higher while oil prices fell.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 bounced back from its earlier downturn, climbing 0.3% to touch 45,768.68. Meeting minutes from the Bank of Japan’s July session, made public on Thursday, suggested that officials are leaning towards raising interest rates if there is an uptick in economic activity and pricing.

In the Chinese stock exchanges, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong inched up 0.1% to 26,542.37, while Shanghai’s Composite index rose by almost 0.2% to 3,860.22, propelled by advancements in technology stocks.

South Korea’s Kospi index fell minutely, dropping less than 0.1% to 3,471.66. There were persistent worries over competitiveness after the U.S. reduced tariffs on European imports to 15% on Wednesday, leaving Korean vehicles still taxed at 25%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 went up more than 0.1% reaching 8,775.00. Meanwhile, India’s BSE Sensex decreased by 0.5%, and Taiwan’s Taiex fluctuated before eventually ending the day 0.4% lower.

On Wednesday, U.S. stock indexes drifted lower on as worries revived over the high level of share prices.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.3% to 6,637.97 for a second straight, modest loss.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank by 171 points, equating to a 0.4% dip, settling at 46,121.28, while the Nasdaq composite declined by 0.3% ending at 22,497.86, with all three indices still hovering around the record highs attained on Monday.

The U.S. stock market has slowed after a blistering run since hitting a low in April.

Market optimism has been driven by the belief that President Donald Trump’s tariffs won’t overwhelm global commerce and anticipations that the Federal Reserve will reduce interest rates multiple times to invigorate the U.S. economy.

The rally has been so big that it has raised concerns about stock prices shooting too high and becoming too expensive, particularly if the Fed does not deliver as many cuts to rates as traders expect.

Demonstrating the weight of high expectations, Micron Technology’s stock fell 2.8% even though it reported a better profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The computer memory company also gave a forecast for profit in the current quarter that blew past analysts’ expectations.

Typically, such a performance would send a stock higher. But Micron’s stock came into the day with an atypical, stunning gain of 97.7% for the year so far.

Freeport-McMoRan sank 17% for one of the market’s larger losses after the miner said it expects sales of copper to be 4% lower in the third quarter than it had earlier forecast. It also said sales of gold will likely be roughly 6% lower than earlier expected.

On the winning side of Wall Street was Lithium Americas. It soared 95.8% following reports that the U.S. government is considering taking an ownership stake in the Canadian company, which is developing a lithium project in Nevada with General Motors.

Homebuilders also rose after a report said U.S. sales of new homes were stronger in August than economists had forecast and unexpectedly accelerated.

In other dealings early Thursday, benchmark U.S. crude oil shed 26 cents to $64.73 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 24 cents to $68.22 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar fell to 148.73 Japanese yen from 148.78 yen. The euro rose to $1.1748 from $1.1744.

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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.