Shares in the Asia-Pacific traded mixed on Thursday after tracking losses on Wall Street overnight.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gave up the gains of the previous day, losing 385.89 points, or 1.9%, to 26,405.23, after Japan recorded another trade deficit for December, one day after the Bank of Japan surprised markets by keeping its yield curve tolerance band unchanged. The yen currently stands at at 128.14 against the U.S. dollar.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng docked 27.02 points, or 0.1%, to 21,650.98.
Hong Kong and Australia are slated to post its unemployment rate reading for December and October to December, respectively.
The Australian dollar, meanwhile, weakened by more than 0.7% after its employment data came in weaker than expected, signaling the central bank’s rate hikes may slow due to a deteriorating jobs market.
In other markets
Markets in Taiwan remained shuttered for holiday.
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 rebounded 25.7 points, or 0.6%, to 4,156.01.
In Korea, the Kospi index recovered 12.02 points, or 0.5%, to 2,380.34.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index retreated 13.37 points, or 0.4%, to 3,276.18.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 dumped 34.77 points, or 0.3%, to 11,885.65.
In Australia, the ASX 200 gained 41.95 points, or 0.6%, to 7,435.51.
