Asian Shares rose on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve took a more accommodative stance at its policy meeting, but concerns over U.S.-China trade talks and slowing global growth capped broad gains and pulled some markets lower.
Asian Shares
- MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.5 percent.
- Chinese blue-chips, which spent the morning swinging between small losses and gains, were flat.
- Seoul’s Kospi added 1 percent as regulators announced plans to cut the stock transaction tax this year.
- Australian shares, which had risen earlier in the session, turned lower, dropping 0.5 percent.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.55 percent to 25,745.67.
- The S&P 500 lost 0.29 percent to 2,824.23.
- The Nasdaq Composite added less than 0.1 percent to 7,728.97.
Currencies
- The dollar continued to ease after falling on Wednesday, with a basket tracking the currency against major rivals edging down to 95.874.
- The greenback was down about 0.1 percent against the Japanese currency, buying 110.59 yen.
- The euro was up 0.14 percent on the day at $1.1427.
- The pound was up 0.2 percent at $1.3221.
Commodities
- U.S. crude fell 0.1 percent to $60.17 a barrel after touching four-month highs on Wednesday.
- Brent crude was a touch lower at $68.47.
- Gold gained on the weaker dollar, with spot gold adding about 0.5 percent to $1,318.40 per ounce.