Asian stocks fluctuated as Wall Street approached its record high.
After U.S. equities surged to almost all-time highs on Thursday, Asian shares were mixed.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 futures were little higher.
While traders speculate over whether the Bank of Japan will hike interest rates this month, the Nikkei 225 index in Japan rose 2.3% to 51,028.42, close to its all-time high, on predictions that the U.S. Federal Reserve will lower its primary interest rate next week.
The creator of the tech and telecom behemoth SoftBank Group Corp. reiterated the company’s strategic change to concentrate on OpenAI and other investments in artificial intelligence, which caused the company’s shares to soar 9.2%. SoftBank’s shares are still down roughly 28% from a month ago, when it said it had sold its interest in chip producer Nvidia for $5.8 billion to be able to spend more in AI.
The yield on 10-year bonds issued by the Japanese government increased beyond 1.9%, reaching its highest level since 2007.
With advances for consumer and tech firms, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index reversed early trade losses, rising 0.5% to 25,876.41. The Shanghai Composite index edged down 0.1% to 3,875.79.
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.2% to 4,028.51, with weakness in tech and automotive stocks weighing on the benchmark.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index recovered from a slump earlier in the day, adding 0.3% to 8,618.40.
Taiwan’s Taiex index was nearly unchanged while India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.2%
On Wednesday, U.S. stocks rose to near their record levels as mixed data on the economy kept alive hopes for a cut to interest rates.
The S&P 500 gained 0.3% to 6,849.72 and pulled within 0.6% of its all-time high set in late October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.9% to 47,882.90, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.2% to 23,454.09.
The biggest jump in the S&P 500 came from Microchip Technology, which leaped 12.2% after saying it expects sales and profit for the final months of the year to come in at the high end of the forecasted ranges it earlier gave. CEO Steve Sanghi said business is doing better than expected, and it’s reducing inventory levels.
Marvell Technology was another winner, gaining 7.9% after the supplier of semiconductor products delivered a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
Stocks broadly got a lift from easing Treasury yields in the bond market. Yields fell after a report suggested U.S. employers outside of the government may have cut more jobs in November than they added.
While the surprisingly weak report from ADP may be discouraging for people looking for jobs, it also bolstered expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rate next week. If the Fed does, that would be the third cut of the year in hopes of helping the slowing job market.
Investors love lower interest rates because they boost prices for investments and can recharge the economy.
A separate report Wednesday on activity for the U.S. services sector was more encouraging. It said growth was stronger last month than expected for businesses in the retail, finance, insurance and other industries.
The Institute for Supply Management’s survey also said that prices were increasing at their slowest rate since April. That’s important because the main argument against cutting interest rates is that it could worsen inflation.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.06% from 4.09% late Tuesday.