Stocks in Asia were mixed on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the third time this year and indicated the possibility of a pause in easing monetary policy.
Asian Stocks
- South Korea’s Kospi closed 0.15% higher at 2,083.48.
- Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.37% to close at 22,927.04, with shares of index heavyweight Softbank Group surging 3.71%.
- The Topix index finished slightly higher at 1,667.01.
- The Shanghai composite fell 0.35% to about 2,929.06 and the Shenzhen component was 0.48% to 9,635.33.
- The Shenzhen composite declined 0.763% to around 1,616.19.
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index, on the other hand, advanced 0.76%, as of its final hour of trading.
- The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia shed 0.39% on the day to 6,663.40,
Currency Markets
- The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 97.329 after spiking above 97.8 yesterday.
- The Japanese yen traded at 108.67 against the dollar after strengthening from levels above 109.2 in the previous session.
- The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6921 after rising from levels below $0.688 yesterday.
Currencies and oil
- Brent crude futures adding 0.45% to $60.88 per barrel.
- U.S. crude futures also rose 0.45% to $55.31 per barrel.
Source: CNBC