Asian Markets Mostly Lower

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Thursday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders remain cautious and are reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the closely watched US monthly jobs report on Friday. The jobs data could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates, as the US Fed has warned about labor market tightness. Asian Markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday.

The Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the Fed would be prepared to reaccelerate the pace of rate hikes if the totality of incoming data were to indicate that faster tightening is warranted.

The Australian stock market is slightly higher in choppy trading on Thursday, recouping some of the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 7,300 level, following the mostly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, aided by gains in financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 2.10 points or 0.03 percent to 7,309.90, after touching a high of 7,318.30 and a low of 7,289.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 8.20 points or 0.11 percent to 7,512.10. Australian stocks ended significantly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Fortescue Metals and Rio Tinto are edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while BHP Group is losing 2.5 percent. Mineral Resources is gaining almost 2 percent. OZ Minerals is flat.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy and Woodside Energy are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Santos is adding almost 1 percent. Origin Energy is edging down 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Appen are surging more than 7 percent, Zip is adding almost 1 percent and WiseTech Global is gaining 2.5 percent. Afterpay owner Block is edging down 0.2 percent.

Xero is surging more than 7 percent after the cloud accounting platform said it will shed up to 800 jobs or about 16 percent of its workforce. It also said it would exit its Sydney-based cloud lending platform Waddle.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while National Australia Bank is gaining more than 1 percent and Westpac is adding almost 1 percent. Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources, Gold Road Resources and Evolution Mining are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Newcrest Mining is gaining almost 1 percent. Resolute Mining is losing more than 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Myer Holdings are soaring almost 13 percent after the department store chain announced that its half-yearly profits doubled.

In economic news, the total number of building permits issued in Australia was down a seasonally adjusted 27.6 percent on month in January, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday - standing at 12,065. That was in line with expectations following the 15.3 percent increase in December.

On a yearly basis, total permits fell 8.4 percent, permits for houses dropped 12.0 percent and permits for non-houses eased 0.3 percent. The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of total building approved fell 18.6 percent in January, following a 1.0 percent rise in December.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.658 on Thursday.

The Japanese stock market is notably higher on Thursday, extending the gains in the previous four sessions, with the Nikkei 225 moving a tad above the 28,600 level, following the mostly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, aided by gains across most sectors, led by technology and financial stocks. Traders cautiously await the Bank of Japan's policy decision on Friday.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 28,604.56, up 160.37 points or 0.56 percent, after touching a high of 28,734.79 earlier. Japanese stocks closed notably higher on Wednesday.

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

In the tech space, Screen Holdings, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are gaining more than 1 percent each.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding more than 1 percent. Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is gaining almost 1 percent and Panasonic is adding almost 2 percent, while Canon and Sony are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each.

Among the other major gainers, Seven & I Holdings is gaining almost 4 percent, while MS&AD Insurance Group, Tokio Marine and Sompo Holdings are adding more than 3 percent. Resona Holdings, Ajinomoto, Yamato Holdings, Nippon Paper Industries and Hoya are up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

In economic news, Japan's gross domestic product was flat on a seasonally adjusted quarterly basis in the fourth quarter of 2022, the Cabinet Office said on Thursday. That was shy of expectations for an increase of 0.2 percent following the 0.3 percent contraction in the third quarter. On an annualized basis, GDP rose 0.1 percent - also missing forecasts for a gain of 0.8 percent following the 1.0 percent decline in the three months prior.

The M2 money stock in Japan was up 2.6 percent on year in February, the Bank of Japan said on Thursday - coming in at 1,209.1 trillion yen. That was sky of expectations for an increase of 2.8 percent and down from 2.7 percent in January. The M3 money stock rose an annual 2.2 percent to 1,565.1 trillion yen, down from the 2.3 percent increase in the previous month. The L money stock climbed3.9 percent on year to 2,085.7 trillion yen, accelerating from the 3.7 percent gain a month earlier.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the 137 yen-range on Thursday.

Elsewhere in Asia, New Zealand, China, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan are higher by between 0.1 and 0.4 percent each, while Hong Kong and Indonesia are up 0.2 and 0.6 percent, respectively. On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Wednesday following the sell-off seen in the previous session. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually ended the session mixed. While the Dow slipped 58.06 points or 0.2 percent to 32,798.40, the S&P 500 crept up 5.64 points or 0.1 percent to 3,992.01 and the Nasdaq rose 45.67 points or 0.4 percent to 11,576.00.

The major European markets also turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.2 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index climbed by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices slipped on Wednesday, extending losses from the previous session amid concerns about outlook for energy demand following Powell's remarks to Congress. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended lower by $0.92 or 1.2 percent at $76.66 a barrel.