CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are trading mixed on Thursday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders remain concerned about the fragile ceasefire in the Middle East that appears to hold and shift focus to the looming U.S. tariff pause deadline on July 9. They also turn their focus to the US Fed's plans on interest rates. Asian markets closed mostly higher on Wednesday.
The Australian market is trading slightly lower on Thursday, reversing some of the gains in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 8,550 level, with weakness in gold miners, energy and technology stocks partially offset by gains in iron ore miners.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 9.70 points or 0.11 percent to 8,549.50, after hitting a low of 8,533.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 8.20 points or 0.09 percent to 8,771.70. Australian stocks ended slightly higher on Wednesday.
Among major miners, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are edging up 0.3 percent each, while Mineral Resources is gaining almost 5 percent. BHP Group is flat.
Oil stocks are mostly lower. Origin Energy is losing almost 1 percent, while Beach energy and Woodside Energy are edging down 0.2 to 0.3 percent each. Santos is gaining almost 1 percent
In the tech space, WiseTech Global and Zip are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 1 percent and Xero is tumbling more than 5 percent after the software giant agreed to a $3.9 billion acquisition of American accounting and invoicing platform Melio Payments. Appen is adding almost 3 percent.
Among the big four banks, Westpac and National Australia Bank are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while ANZ Banking is gaining more than 1 percent and Commonwealth Bank is edging up 0.1 percent.
Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources is declining almost 3 percent, Evolution Mining is losing more than 2 percent, Gold Road Resources is down more than 1 percent and Newmont is edging down 0.3 percent, while Resolute Mining is gaining more than 1 percent.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.652 on Thursday.
The Japanese market is trading significantly higher on Thursday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving well above the 39,300 level, with gains in index heavyweights and technology stocks partially offset by weakness in automakers.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 39,349.85, up 407.78 points or 1.05 percent, after touching a high of 39,400.65 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly higher on Wednesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 4 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is losing almost 1 percent and Honda is declining almost 2 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is gaining more than 4 percent, Tokyo Electron is adding more than 2 percent and Screen Holdings is advancing almost 3 percent.
In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is edging down 0.4 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is declining almost 1 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging up 0.1 percent.
Among the major exporters, Sony is gaining almost 1 percent and Canon is edging up 0.1 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric is losing almost 1 percent and Panasonic is slipping more than 1 percent.
Among other major gainers, Ebara is soaring almost 8 percent, Alps Alpine is gaining more than 4 percent, Yaskawa Electric is adding almost 4 percent and Taiyo Yuden is up more than 3 percent, while Furukawa Electric and Resonac Holdings are advancing almost 3 percent each.
Conversely, Renesas Electronics is tumbling almost 7 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 144 yen-range on Thursday.
Elsewhere in Asia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan are higher by between 0.2 and 0.6 percent each. South Korea is down 1.7 percent, while China and Hong Kong are down 0.1 and 0.7 percent, respectively. New Zealand and Singapore are relatively flat.
On Wall Street, stocks initially extended the rally seen to start the week early in the session on Wednesday before giving back ground over the course of the trading day. The major averages pulled back off their early highs, eventually ending the day narrowly mixed.
While the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 61.02 points or 0.3 percent to a new four-month closing high of 19,973.55, the S&P 500 edge down 0.02 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 6,092.16 and the Dow slipped 106.59 points or 0.3 percent to 42,982.43.
Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.5 percent, the German DAX Index declined by 0.6 percent and the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.8 percent.
Crude oil prices moved higher on Wednesday as an EIA report indicated a draw in crude oil inventories and a surge in U.S. gasoline demand to a three-and-a-half-year high. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for August delivery closed up by $0.55 to settle at $64.92 per barrel.
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