World markets mostly saw gains Thursday as gold miners had another strong day as the precious metal bettered the high set in New York on Thursday. In Asian trading, gold rose to $1,281.50 per troy ounce.
Japanese shares had a strong day as the Nikkei closed up 116.59 points (1.23%) to 9,626.09. Exporters continued to do well for the market as the U.S. dollar remained above the 85-yen level after Japan’s market intervention earlier this week. Trading volumes were noticeably lower in anticipation of the upcoming Japanese holidays on Monday and Tuesday.
Electronics manufacturers Sony and Nikkon had solid days. Sony gained 1.73 %, while Nikkon added .68%. Honda also had a good day in Japan closing up .54%.
China's Shanghai Composite Index slid .15 percent to 2,598.69 as banks continue to underperform. Investors continue to be concerned about a possible interest-rate hike from the People’s Bank of China that stems from a 3.5% rise in China’s consumer price index in August. This was the largest rise in nearly 2 years.
Agricultural Bank of China continued its slide to below IPO pricing as it dropped another fell 1.14 percent in Hong Kong and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd fell .25%. Energy producers propped up the Shanghai markets a bit as Huadian Power International added 3.4% and Datang International Power Generation added .3%.
Elsewhere:
Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.29% to 21970.86.
South Korea's Kospi increased .86% to 1827.35.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 closed up .73% to 4,638.90.
India’s Sensex lost .91%.
Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur Composite Index shed 5.98 points to 1,466.97.
Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite Index gained .1.29%.
Shenzhen Composite rose .042% to 1,211.69.
Taiwan's Taiex was up .72%.
Singapore's Straits Times Index was up .652%.
New Zealand's NZX-50 up .52%.
Philippine shares were down .652%.
Shares in Thailand lost .134%.
