Asia-Pacific markets rose on Thursday, tracking a mostly positive session on Wall Street overnight after strong United States bank earnings lifted investor sentiment in an otherwise volatile trading environment.
By 12:10 pm AEDT (1:10 am GMT), Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.8%, reaching a fresh record high. Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.8%, while South Korea’s Kospi 200 jumped 1.7%, also marking a new record peak.
Among local data releases, Australia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 4.5% in September, up from a revised 4.3% in August, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Sean Crick, ABS head of labour statistics, noted: “This is the highest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate recorded since November 2021.”
In the United States, major benchmarks finished mostly higher on Wednesday, supported by strong financial sector earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 0.04%, while the S&P 500 added 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.7%.
In commodities, Brent crude fell 0.8% to US$61.91 per barrel, its lowest level since 8 May.
Spot gold climbed 1.6% to a new record high of US$4,207.77 per ounce.
In China, the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.2% to 3,912.2, while the CSI 300 rose 1.5% to 4,606.3.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced 1.8% to close at 25,910.6, though India’s BSE Sensex slipped 0.7% to 82,605.4.
European markets showed mixed performance on Wednesday. The FTSE 100 declined 0.3% to 9,424.8, the DAX lost 0.2% to 24,181.4, while France’s CAC 40 surged 2% to 8,077.0, briefly touching fresh intraday record highs.
