Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Thursday, with multiple regional markets shedding earlier gains as buoyant sentiment from overnight moves on Wall Street following a Federal Reserve rate hike that equated to its most aggressive such move since 1994 faded.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 broke its slump and gained 105.04 points, or 0.4%, to 26,431.20.
Shares of Fast Retailing were up 1.4% while robot maker Fanuc saw its stock climb 0.5%. Trade data released in the morning showed Japan ran a trade deficit after falls in the yen drove more imports.
The Japanese yen traded at 133.74 per U.S. dollar, still stronger as compared to earlier in the week when it was at levels above 135 against the greenback
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index docked 462.78 points, or 2.2%, to 20.485.43, as Chinese tech stocks saw sizable: Tencent dropped 3.2%, Alibaba slipped 3% and Netease declined 5.3%.
Australia’s unemployment figures held steady at 3.9% in yet another signal that Australia’s Reserve Bank would, like the Fed and many other central banks, be staying on course to raise rates again. The unemployment rate has now been at 3.9% for three consecutive months but could fall to 3.5% at the end of the year.
The Australian dollar was at $0.6977, retreating from an earlier high of $0.7035.
In other markets
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 lost 28.16 points, or 0.7%, to 4,250.06
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index fell 8.42 points, or 0.3%, to 3,097.43.
In Taiwan, the Taiex index cratered 160.64 points, or 1%, to 15,838.61.
In Korea, the Kospi eked ahead 4.03 points, or 0.2%, to 2,451.14.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 recovered 10.66 points, or 0.1%, to 10,646.58.
In Australia, dropped 9.93 points, or 0.2%, to 6,591.10.
