Asian Markets Mostly Lower

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Thursday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, amid uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates following mixed U.S. jobs data. The minutes of the US Fed's latest monetary policy meeting also did not provide much insight into interest rates other than to suggest officials plan to take a "careful approach" to future decisions. Asian Markets closed mixed on Wednesday.

A report showed US private sector job growth slowed more than expected in December, while another report showed weekly US jobless claims unexpectedly fell to their lowest level in almost 11 months.

The Australian market is trading notably lower on Thursday, snapping a five-session winning session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling to staly a tad above the 8,300 level, with weakness across most sectors led by technology and financial stocks. Gold miners were the only bright spot.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 41.30 points or 0.50 percent to 8,307.80, after hitting a low of 8,291.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 42.30 points or 0.49 percent to 8,557.10. Australian stocks ended significantly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Mineral Resources is losing almost 3 percent and BHP Group is declining more than 1 percent, while Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy, Beach energy and Santos are losing more than 1 percent each, while Origin Energy is edging up 0.2 percet.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 1 percent, WiseTech Global is down almost 1 percent, Appen is slipping almost 8 percent and Zip declining almost 3 percent, while Xero is edging up 0.1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are losing almost 1 percent each, while Westpac and National Australia Bank are edging down 0.4 to 0.5 percent each. Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Gold Road Resources are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Newmont is adding almost 3 percent and Northern Star Resources is advancing more than 3 percent, while Resolute Mining is losing almost 2 percent.

In other news, shares in Star Entertainment are plummeting almost 25 percent after the company warned it has just $79 million left in cash, far less than it spent in the past three months. Shares in Avita Medical tumbled almost 13 percent after the company admitted it would miss revenue forecasts.

In economic news, the value of retail sales in Australia was up a seasonally adjusted 0.8 percent on month in November, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday - coming in at A$37.052 billion. That was shy of expectations for an increase of 1.0 percent but was up from 0.6 percent in October.

Meanwhile, Australia posted a seasonally adjusted merchandise trade surplus of A$7.079 billion November, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. That beat expectations for a surplus of A$5.750 billion following the upwardly revised A$5.670 billion surplus in October (originally A$5.593 billion).

Exports were up 4.8 percent on month to A$43.816 billion, up from the downwardly revised 3.5 percent increase in the previous month (originally 3.6 percent). Imports were up 1.7 percent on month at A$36.737 billion following the downwardly revised 0.1 percent contraction a month earlier (originally +0.1 percent).

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.621 on Thursday.

Extending the losses in the previous sessions, the Japanese market is significantly lower on Thursday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling well below the 39,700 level, with weakness across most sectors led by index heavyweights, exporters and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 39,678.93, down 302.13 points or 0.76 percent, after hitting a low of 39,607.06 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.3 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is declining almost 2 percent and Honda is losing 1.5 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 1 percent, while Screen Holdings and Tokyo Electron are declining almost 2 percent each.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is losing almost 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Panasonic is losing more than 2 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is down more than 1 percent and Sony is edging down 0.4 percent. Canon is flat.

Among other major losers, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha is losing more than 5 percent and Mitsubishi Motors is sliding almost 5 percent, while Nippon Yusen K.K., Nissan Motor, Mazda Motor, Lasertec and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines are declining more than 4 percent each. Omron, Hino Motors and ZOZO are down more than 3 percent each, while Mitsui & Co. and Subaru are slipping almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Ebara is gaining almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 158 yen-range on Thursday.

Elsewhere in Asia, New Zealand, China, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan are lower by between 0.1 and 0.5 percent each, while Hong Kong, South Korea and Indonesia are higher by between 0.1 and 0.3 percent each. On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction during trading on Wednesday following the sharp pullback seen over the course of Tuesday's session. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing narrowly mixed.

While the tech-heavy Nasdaq edged down 10.80 points or 0.1 percent to 19,478.87, the Dow rose 106.84 points or 0.3 percent to 42,635.20 and the S&P 500 crept up 9.22 points or 0.2 percent to 5,918.25.

The major European markets also finished the day mixed. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index crept up by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent and the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices settled lower Wednesday as a sharp increase in gasoline stockpiles and a stronger dollar weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended lower by $0.93 or 1.25 percent at $73.32 a barrel.