CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are mostly higher on Thursday despite the weak cues overnight from Wall Street as higher commodity prices lifted resources stocks. Optimism about U.S.-China trade talks, after U.S. Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he and other officials will travel to Beijing next week, boosted investor sentiment. Some of the markets, including China, remain closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.
The Australian market is advancing, extending its recent winning streak despite the modest losses overnight on Wall Street, as higher commodity prices boosted resources stocks. Banks are also notably higher.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is adding 73.20 points or 1.21 percent to 6,099.30, after touching a high of 6,105.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is advancing 66.60 points or 1.09 percent to 6,158.40. Australian shares closed modestly higher on Wednesday.
Among the major miners, Fortescue Metals is gaining more than 3 percent, Rio Tinto is rising more than 2 percent and BHP Group is adding almost 1 percent, amid worries about a possible shortfall in iron ore supplies after Brazilian miner Vale declared force majeure earlier this week.
Gold miners are also up after gold prices rose overnight. Newcrest Mining is advancing more than 1 percent and Evolution Mining is up almost 1 percent.
The big four banks - Westpac, ANZ Banking, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank - are higher in a range of 1.4 percent to 2.1 percent.
AMP has replaced Paul Sainsbury, the head of its wealth management unit, just days after the release of the royal commission's final report. Sainsbury will hand over responsibility for the unit to Alex Wade. Shares of AMP are rising almost 3 percent.
Oil stocks advanced after crude oil prices rebounded overnight. Oil Search, Santos and Woodside are all higher by more than 1 percent each.
AGL Energy reported a 10 percent increase in underlying profit for the six months ended December 31 and also announced a A$25 million upgrade to Victoria's Loy Yang coal-fired power station. The energy giant's shares are losing more than 3 percent.
Mirvac Group reported a 39 percent increase in first-half profit, while revenues surged 59 percent. The property developer's shares are higher by more than 3 percent.
In economic news, the latest survey from the Australian Industry Group revealed that the construction sector in Australia continued to contract in January, albeit at a slower pace, with a Performance of Construction Index score of 43.1. That's up from 42.6 in December, although it remains well beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
Australia will also see fourth-quarter figures for the NAB business confidence index today.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar is lower against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, extending losses from Wednesday following RBA Governor Philip Lowe's comments that an interest rate cut in future was just as likely as a rate hike. The local currency was quoted at $0.7113, down from $0.7155 on Wednesday.
The Japanese market is declining following the negative cues overnight from Wall Street. Investors also turned cautious as they focused on Japanese corporate earnings results.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 149.92 points or 0.72 percent to 20,724.14, after touching a low of 20,665.51 earlier. Japanese shares edged higher on Wednesday.
The major exporters are mostly lower despite a weaker yen. Panasonic is losing more than 3 percent, Sony is declining almost 2 percent and Canon is down almost 1 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.1 percent.
In the tech sector, Advantest is declining more than 1 percent, while Tokyo Electron is advancing almost 1 percent. Among the major automakers, Toyota is losing almost 3 percent, extending losses from the previous session on weak third-quarter results, while Honda is down more than 1 percent.
In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is lower by almost 1 percent, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is declining almost 3 percent. In the oil space, Japan Petroleum is lower by almost 2 percent and Inpex is losing more than 2 percent even as crude oil prices rebounded overnight.
Among the other major gainers, SoftBank Group is gaining almost 17 percent after the company reported a nearly 19 percent increase in its nine-month profit and also announced a share buyback of up to 600 billion yen.
Mazda Motor is rising more than 8 percent on its upbeat full-year earnings outlook, while Furukawa Electric is higher by more than 7 percent.
On the flip side, Mitsubishi Chemical is losing more than 6 percent, while Cyberagent and Toyota Tsusho are declining more than 4 percent each.
On the economic front, Japan will provide preliminary December results for its leading and coincident indexes today.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 109 yen-range on Thursday.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia are also higher, while Indonesia is modestly lower. The markets in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong remain closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.
On Wall Street, stocks closed modestly lower Wednesday on profit taking, although selling pressure was subdued amid uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets. Ambiguity about trade talks between the U.S. and China continued to hang over the markets, as President Donald Trump's State of the Union address last night lacked details on progress in the talks.
The Dow edged down 21.22 points or 0.1 percent to 25,390.30, the Nasdaq fell 26.80 points or 0.4 percent to 7,375.28 and the S&P 500 slipped 6.09 points or 0.2 percent to 2,731.61.
The major European markets also closed modestly lower on Wednesday. While the German DAX Index fell by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both edged down by 0.1 percent.
Crude oil prices rebounded from early weakness to end modestly higher on Wednesday, despite data showing an increase in U.S. crude stockpiles. WTI crude oil futures for March ended up $0.35 or 0.7 percent at $54.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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