CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are mostly lower on Thursday following the negative cues overnight from Wall Street after a drop in the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield to fifteen-month lows. Recession fears sent bond yields in Australia, New Zealand and Japan also lower. Continued uncertainty over Brexit also weighed on investor sentiment.
The Australian market is losing following the negative cues from Wall Street after the yield on the benchmark ten-year U.S. Treasury note ended the day at its lowest closing level since December 2017.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is declining 16.20 points or 0.26 percent to 6,119.80, after touching a low of 6,115.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 16.90 points or 0.27 percent to 6,200.70. Australian shares recovered from early losses to close marginally higher on Wednesday.
Tech stocks are mostly weak. Appen is declining more than 1 percent and Xero is lower by almost 2 percent, while Afterpay Touch is rising more than 2 percent.
The big four banks - ANZ Banking, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac - are lower in a range of 0.4 percent to 0.8 percent.
Among oil stocks, Oil Search is lower by almost 1 percent and Santos is down 0.1 percent, while Woodside Petroleum is edging up 0.1 percent after crude oil prices declined almost 1 percent overnight.
Meanwhile, the major miners are mostly higher. BHP Group is adding 0.2 percent and Rio Tinto is rising 0.7 percent, while Fortescue Metals is declining 1 percent.
Gold miners are also advancing even as gold prices declined overnight. Newcrest Mining is adding 0.2 percent and Evolution Mining is higher by 0.5 percent.
On the economic front, Australia will see February figures for job vacancies today.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar is lower against the U.S dollar on Thursday. The local currency was quoted at $0.7085, down from $0.7102 on Wednesday.
The Japanese market is notably lower following the weak cues from Wall Street and uncertainty over Brexit. In addition, a stronger safe-haven yen dragged down exporters' shares.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 381.34 points or 1.78 percent to 20,997.39, after touching a low of 20,976.16 earlier. Japanese stocks declined on Wednesday as many stocks traded ex-dividend.
The major exporters are notably lower on a stronger yen. Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric are declining more than 2 percent each, while Sony and Canon are lower by almost 2 percent each.
In the tech sector, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are losing almost 3 percent each. Among the major automakers, Toyota and Honda are losing more than 1 percent each.
In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are down more than 1 percent each. In the oil sector, Inpex is lower by almost 1 percent and Japan Petroleum is losing more than 2 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Nippon Suisan Kaisha is advancing almost 2 percent.
On the flip side, Mitsui E&S Holdings is losing almost 6 percent, while Chiyoda Corp., JGC Corp. and Fuji Electric are lower by more than 4 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 110 yen-range on Thursday.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea is declining almost 1 percent, while Shanghai, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan are also lower. New Zealand and Indonesia are modestly higher.
On Wall Street, stocks closed lower on Wednesday in choppy trading amid a notable drop by bond yields. The yield on the benchmark ten-year note ended the day at its lowest closing level since December of 2017. Bond yields have moved to the downside amid concerns about the economic outlook, with an inversion of the yield curve leading to worries about a potential recession.
The Dow edged down 32.14 points or 0.1 percent to 25,625.59, the Nasdaq slid 48.15 points or 0.6 percent to 7,643.38 and the S&P 500 fell 13.09 points or 0.5 percent to 2,805.37.
The major European markets showed a lack of direction before ending nearly flat on Wednesday. While the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index closed nearly unchanged.
Crude oil futures ended lower on Wednesday after official data from Energy Information Administration showed an unexpected increase in crude inventories last week. WTI crude for May ended down $0.53 or 0.9 percent at $59.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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