Asian Markets Mostly Higher

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Thursday, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, boosted by gains in materials and energy stocks amid the spike in commodity prices. Traders also continued to embrace the idea of the US Federal Reserve slowing the pace of interest rate hikes at upcoming meetings. Asian Markets closed mostly higher on Wednesday.

The Fed is widely expected to raise rates by another 75 basis points next week, but traders have recently grown increasingly hopeful for a downshift in December. Now, investors are pricing in a smaller rate hike in December after a 75 basis point increase in November. Already, a few Fed officials have softened their stance on tightening.

Third-quarter U.S. GDP data, due later this week, is expected to offer more clues on the economic and rate outlook.

The Australian stock market is significantly higher on Thursday, extending the gains in the previous three sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving down to nearly the 6,900 level, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with strong gains in materials and energy stocks amid the spike in commodity prices partially offset by weakness in financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 39.70 points or 0.58 percent to 6,850.60, after touching a high of 6,873.80 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 43.40 points or 0.62 percent to 7,048.50. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 3 percent, Fortescue Metals is adding almost 1 percent, Rio Tinto is up more than 1 percent and Mineral Resources advancing almost 4 percent, while OZ Minerals is edging down 0.2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy is adding more than 2 percent, while Woodside Energy, Origin Energy and Santos are gaining almost 2 percent each.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 2 percent, WiseTech Global is adding almost 2 percent and Zip is advancing more than 2 percent, while Xero is slipping almost 1 percent and Appen is edging down 0.4 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank is losing more than 1 percent, Commonwealth Bank is slipping almost 1 percent and Westpac is declining more than 1 percent. ANZ Banking is plunging 5.5 percent after it was fined $25 million for misleading customers on benefits such as fee waivers and interest rate discounts. However, the bank reported an annual profit that beat estimates.

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources is gaining 3.5 percent, Newcrest Mining is adding almost 3 percent, Gold Road Resources is surging almost 5 percent and Evolution Mining is advancing 4.5 percent. Resolute Mining is flat.

In other news, shares in Lynas Rare Earths are soaring almost 8 percent after the rare-earths miner reported a 35 percent jump in first-quarter revenue on strong rare earths demand.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.649 on Thursday. The Japanese stock market is modestly lower in choppy trading on Thursday, giving up some of the gains in the previous three sessions, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 27,400 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with exporters and financial stocks leading the declines. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 27,379.40, down 52.44 points or 0.19 percent, after hitting a low of 27,352.80 earlier. Japanese stocks closed significantly higher on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.1 percent. Among automakers, Honda and Toyota are losing more than 1 percent each.

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

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing almost 2 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are declining more than 2 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is down more than 1 percent and Panasonic is edging down 0.2 percent, while Sony is flat. Canon is plunging almost 7 percent after reporting disappointing third-quarter results and also slashed its annual net profit forecast.

Among the other major losers, Seiko Epson is plunging almost 5 percent, while Asahi Group and Concordia Financial are losing more than 4 percent each. Chiba Bank, Fukuoka Financial and Resona Holdings are slipping almost 4 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Trust, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha and Nitto Denko are down more than 3 percent each. Ricoh, CyberAgent and Toray Industries are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Hitachi Construction Machinery is gaining almost 5 percent, while Yaskawa Electric and Tokyo Electric Power are up almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 146 yen-range on Thursday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong is surging 2.3 percent, while Taiwan and South Korea are up 1.3 and 1.2 percent, respectively. New Zealand, Malaysia and Indonesia are higher by 0.1 to 0.6 percent each. Singapore is bucking the trend and is down 0.1 percent. China is relatively flat.

On Wall Street, stocks indexes went on a roller coaster ride over the course of the trading day on Wednesday after closing sharply higher for three straight sessions. The tech-heavy Nasdaq showed wild swings after an early sell-off before eventually ending the session down 228.12 points or 2.0 percent to 10,970.99.

The S&P 500 also slid 28.51 points or 0.7 percent to 3,830.60, while the narrower Dow inched up 2.37 points or less than a tenth of a percent to a new one-month closing high of 31,839.11.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved to the upside over the course of the session. While the German DAX Index jumped by 1.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.6 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday, buoyed by data showing a drop in gasoline stockpiles and a weak U.S. dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December spiked $2.59 or 3 percent at $87.91 a barrel.