Asian Markets Trade Mixed

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mixed on Thursday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders react to US Fed Chair Jerome Powell and heads of other top central banks signalling further policy tightening to tame stubbornly high inflation. Powell indicated that interest rates will stay high and would not rule out two rate hikes at consecutive meetings. Asian Markets closed mixed on Wednesday.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently indicates an 81.8 percent chance of another quarter point rate hike next month but much lower chances of additional increases this year.

The Australian stock market is slightly higher on Thursday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving a tad above the 7,200 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in technology, energy and financial stocks partially offset by losses in mining stocks.

Traders also welcomed softer than expected headline inflation data in Australia that raised hopes the Reserve Bank of Australia will pause interest rate hikes next week.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 4.00 points or 0.06 percent to 7,200.50, after touching a high of 7,223.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 6.50 points or 0.09 percent to 7,390.60. Australian stocks ended significantly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are losing almost 1 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is edging down 0.5 percent and Mineral Resources is down more than 1 percent.

Oil stocks are higher. Santos is gaining almost 1 percent, while Beach energy, Origin Energy and Woodside Energy are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Xero are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Appen is adding almost 3 percent and WiseTech Global is advancing more than 2 percent, while Zip is losing more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank is gaining more than 1 percent, Commonwealth Bank is up almost 1 percent, ANZ Banking is adding almost 2 percent and Westpac is edging up 0.4 percent.

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources, Evolution Mining and Newcrest Mining are losing almost 1 percent each, while Resolute Mining is down more than 1 percent and Gold Road Resources is declining almost 2 percent. In economic news, the total value of retail sales in Australia was up 0.7 percent on month in May, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday - coming in at A$35.524 billion. That beat market consensus of a 0.1 percent growth following a flat reading in April and a 0.4 per cent rise in March. On a yearly basis, retail sales advanced 4.2 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.661 on Thursday.

The Japanese stock market is notably higher on Thursday, extending the gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 33,300 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in technology and financial stocks. Traders also cheered better than expected retail sales growth in May.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 33,348.49, up 154.50 points or 0.47 percent, after touching a high of 33,527.88 earlier. Japanese stocks closed sharply higher on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging down 0.3 percent, while Honda is edging up 0.1 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is gaining more than 2 percent, Tokyo Electron is advancing 3 percent and Advantest is adding almost 3 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining almost 3 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding almost 2 percent and Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.2 percent.

Among the major exporters, Panasonic is gaining almost 2 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is up more than 1 percent, while Canon is losing more than 1 percent. Sony is flat.

Among other major gainers, Rakuten Groupis surging more than 5 percent and Olympus is gaining more than 3 percent, while Terumo, Sumitomo Electric Industries and Seven & I Holdings are adding almost 4 percent each.

Conversely, J. Front Retailing is losing more than 3 percent, while Oji Holdings and Nippon Telegraph & Telephone are down almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, the total value of retail sales in Japan was up 5.7 percent on year in May, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said on Thursday. That beat expectations for an increase of 5.4 percent following the marginally revised 5.1 percent gain in April.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 144 yen-range on Thursday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong is down 1.3 percent and China is down 0.1 percent, while New Zealand and Taiwan are up 2 percent each. South Korea is relatively flat. Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia are closed on account of Eid al-Adha. On Wall Street, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance over the course of the trading session on Wednesday after an early move to the downside. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before closing mixed.

While the Nasdaq pulled back well off its best levels of the day, the tech-heavy index still closed up 36.08 points or 0.3 percent at 13,591.75. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 edged down 1.55 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 4,376.86 and the Dow dipped 74.08 points or 0.2 percent to 33,852.66.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.0 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.6 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Wednesday as data showed a sharp drop in U.S. crude stockpiles in the week ended June 23rd. The dollar's rise on upbeat economic data, and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's remarks about interest rates capped oil's gains. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended higher by $1.86 or about 2.8 percent at $69.56 a barrel.