Asian Markets Mostly Lower On Tariff Worries

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Thursday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders remain cautious ahead of the final deadline of August 1 set by the US President Donald Trump for reaching trade deals with its trading partner countries. Trump hinted at higher tariffs on certain countries after the deadline. Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the US Fed announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged in a divided vote. The decision to leave rates unchanged was not unanimous as Fed Governors Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller preferred to lower rates by a quarter percentage point.

During his post-meeting press conference, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank has not made a decision about lowering rates in September. "We don't do that in advance," Powell said. "We'll be taking that information into consideration and all the other information we get as we make our decision."

The Australian market is trading modestly lower on Thursday, reversing some of the gains in the previous three sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 8,750 level, with weakness cross most sectors led by mining and energy stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 19.30 points or 0.22 percent to 8,737.10, after hitting a low of 8,701.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 20.50 points or 0.23 percent to 8,994.90. Australian stocks ended notably higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 2 percent, while Rio Tinto and Fortescue are declining more than 2 percent each. Mineral Resources is tumbling more than 8 percent after the stock was downgraded by JPMorgan on valuation concerns.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy and Origin Energy are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Santos is edging up 0.4 percent. Beach energy is tumbling more than 10 percent after downbeat production update for the June quarter. It will also record a $674 million impairment in its 2025 financial year results, driven by lower commodity prices.

In the tech space, Zip is gaining almost 1 percent and Xero is edging up 0.1 percent, while Afterpay owner Block and WiseTech Global are adding more than 1 percent each. Appen is losing more than 3 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while ANZ Banking is edging down 0.1 percent.

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources is declining more than 2 percent, Evolution Mining is losing more than 3 percent, Resolute Mining is tumbling more than 5 percent and Newmont is slipping almost 2 percent. Gold Road Resources is edging down 0.2 percent.

In other news, shares in Cettire are plunging more than 20 percent after US President Donald Trump said the US would apply tariffs to low-value imports from all trading partners.

Shares in Flight Centre are tumbling almost 9 percent, after the travel retailer said it would just miss the bottom end of guidance, having already revised that guidance lower in February, blaming growing Middle East tensions, difficult travel conditions in the United States and extra costs in Asia.

In economic news, the total number of building approvals issued in Australia was up a seasonally adjusted 11.9 percent on month in June, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday - standing at 17,076. That blew away expectations for 1.8 percent and was up from the downwardly revised 2.2 percent increase in May (originally 3.2 percent). On a yearly basis, overall approvals spiked 27.4 percent after adding 0.8 percent in the previous month. The value of total building work approved rose 6.2 percent to A$16.65 billion after an 8.4 percent fall in May.

The ABS also said Retail sales in Australia were up a seasonally adjusted 1.2 percent on month in June, coming in at A$37.906 billion. That beat forecasts for an increase of 0.4 percent following the downwardly revised 0.1 percent increase in May (originally 0.2 percent). Sales were up 4.9 percent on year. For the second quarter of 2025, retail sales rose 0.3 percent on quarter and 1.5 percent on year at A$106.038 billion.

Additionally, the ABS said Export prices in Australia were down 4.5 percent on quarter and 3.3 percent on year in the second quarter of 2025. Import prices were down 0.8 percent on quarter and up 1.4 percent on year.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.645 on Thursday.

The Japanese market is trading significantly higher on Thursday, snapping a four-session losing streak, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving above the 41,000 mark, with gains in financial and technology stocks and a mixed performance in most other sectors.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 41,020.91, up 366.21 points or 0.90 percent, after touching a high of 41,040.14 earlier. Japanese shares ended slightly lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining 3.5 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.3 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is losing almost 1 percent and Honda is edging down 0.5 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 1 percent, while Tokyo Electron is gaining more than 1 percent and Screen Holdings is advancing more than 3 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is gaining more than 1 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging up 0.5 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Sony is gaining almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is adding 1.5 percent, while Canon is edging down 0.2 percent and Panasonic is losing more than 2 percent.

Among other major gainers, Kyocera is soaring almost 9 percent, Astellas Pharma is jumping more than 7 percent and Fujikura is surging almost 7 percent, while Furukawa Electric and Yamato Holdings are surging more than 6 percent each. Disco is gaining more than 5 percent, Murata Manufacturing is advancing almost 5 percent and Nippon Electric Glass is adding almost 4 percent, while Sumco, Nissan Motor and Taiyo Yuden are up more than 3 percent each. Lasertec and Socionext are advancing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Sumitomo Metal Mining is losing almost 3 percent.

In economic news, industrial production in Japan was up a seasonally adjusted 1.7 percent on month in June, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said on Thursday. That beat forecasts for a decline of 0.7 percent following the 0.1 percent contraction in May. On a yearly basis, industrial production was up 4.0 percent. According to the METI's forecast for industrial production, output is expected to rise 1.8 percent in July and 0.8 percent in August.

The METI also said the value of retail sales in Japan was up 2.0 percent on year in June, coming in at 12.966 trillion yen. That beat forecasts for an increase of 1.8 percent following the downwardly revised 1.9 percent gain in May (originally 2.2 percent). For the second quarter of 2025, retail sales rose an annual 2.4 percent to 38.679 trillion yen.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan will wrap up its monetary policy meeting on Thursday and then announce its decision on interest rates. The BoJ is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate steady at 0.50 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 149 yen-range on Thursday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong is down 1.3 percent, while, China, Malaysia, Singapore South Korea and Indonesia are lower by between 0.1 and 0.7 percent each. New Zealand and Taiwan are down 0.1 percent each.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Wednesday following the modest pullback seen in the previous session. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before closing narrowly mixed.

While the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 31.38 points or 0.2 percent to 21,129.67, the S&P 500 edged down 7.96 points or 0.1 percent to 6,362.90 and the Dow fell 171.71 points or 0.4 percent to 44,461.28.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved modestly higher on the day. While the German DAX Index rose by 0.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index inched up by 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed just above the unchanged line.

Crude oil prices inched higher on Wednesday on hopes the U.S. can avoid a trade war, while the grace period was cut for Russia to avoid sanctions on its energy trades from 50 to 10 days. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery rose $0.82 or 1.18 percent at $70.02 per barrel.