Asian markets settle mixed on Thursday
Japan’s Nikkei hit fresh record highs on the back of a weaker yen, while the Bank of Japan left interest rates unchanged as expected
Asian markets settled mixed on Thursday tracking Wall Street’s mixed performance overnight after US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell lowered interest rates by another quarter point, as widely expected, and indicated that a December rate cut is far from a forgone conclusion. Chinese and Hong Kong shares dipped as the high-stakes Xi-Trump meeting lacked surprises and Trump said Nvidia's Blackwell AI chips weren't discussed with Xi Jinping. Japan’s Nikkei hit fresh record highs on the back of a weaker yen, while the Bank of Japan left interest rates unchanged as expected. Seoul shares notched another record high after the United States and South Korea concluded a $350 billion trade agreement and Samsung Electronics delivered strong Q3 earnings.
| Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
| Shanghai Composite | 3,986.90 | -29.43 | -0.73 |
| Hang Seng | 26,282.69 | -63.45 | -0.24 |
| Jakarta Composite | 8,184.06 | 17.84 | 0.22 |
| KLSE Composite | 1,614.20 | 2.66 | 0.17 |
| Nikkei 225 | 51,325.61 | 17.96 | 0.04 |
| Straits Times | 4,437.44 | -2.77 | -0.06 |
| KOSPI Composite | 4,086.89 | 5.74 | 0.14 |
| Taiwan Weighted | 28,287.53 | -7.21 | -0.03 |
