HONG KONG – A mixed performance was seen across Asian markets on Thursday, following a series of record highs on Wall Street. Investors kept a close eye on discussions between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, eager for insights from their high-profile meeting.
The meeting, held at the Great Hall of the People, covered critical topics such as U.S.-China relations and the sensitive issue of Taiwan. However, analysts were cautious in their expectations, predicting no significant breakthroughs from the talks.
Meanwhile, U.S. futures saw a modest uptick, reflecting a cautiously optimistic sentiment.
In Japan, the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Nikkei 225 index rose by 0.3%, hitting 63,448.87. It briefly surpassed 63,700, setting a new intraday record, buoyed by strong corporate earnings. South Korea’s Kospi also experienced a rise, gaining 0.5% to reach 7,884.71, driven by the performance of technology stocks.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index increased by 0.7%, closing at 26,584.88. Conversely, the Shanghai Composite index in China faced a downturn, dropping 0.9% to settle at 4,204.41.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 saw a minor decline, slipping less than 0.1% to finish at 8,627.80, reflecting a cautious approach among investors.
Taiwan’s Taiex was up 0.6%, and India’s Sensex climbed 0.5%.
Oil prices were trading higher, with no clear ending to the Iran war after more than two months. Some were hoping the Trump-Xi meeting could bring results, after U.S. officials said Beijing could use its close economic ties with Tehran to press Iran to reopen the Strait or Hormuz.
Brent crude, the international standard, was up 0.4% at $106.04 per barrel. It was around $70 a barrel before the war in Iran started late February. That also came after the International Energy Agency said Wednesday that supply losses from the strait were “depleting global oil inventories at a record pace.”
Benchmark U.S. crude was also up 0.4% to $101.43 per barrel.
Investors are also watching for updates on China’s imports of Nvidia’s advanced H200 chips, after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was confirmed to be a part of Trump’s China trip alongside other top executives including Tesla’s Elon Musk and Apple’s Tim Cook.
On Wednesday, technology stocks led Wall Street gains. The benchmark S&P 500 climbed 0.6% to 7,444.25 and reached another all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 0.1% to 49,693.20, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 1.2% to 26,402.34 and set its own record.
In other dealings, the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.46% from 4.47% though still significantly above around 3.97% from before the Iran war began.
A report Wednesday showed that U.S. wholesale prices surged in April, fueled by impacts from the Iran war-caused energy shock. On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate also confirmed Kevin Warsh, Trump’s nominee, to lead the Federal Reserve. He would be take over from Jerome Powell, who had been criticized by Trump repeatedly for not cutting rates faster or deeper.
The U.S. dollar fell to 157.85 Japanese yen from 157.86 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1715, up from $1.1711.
___
AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed to this report.
