On Thursday, shares in the Asia-Pacific region predominantly experienced an upward trend following the enactment of a funding bill by U.S. President Donald Trump, which marked the conclusion of the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index increased by 0.43%, closing at 51,281.83, while the Topix increased by 0.67% to 3,381.72, following a peak of 3,389.12 reached earlier in the session. Shares of SoftBank Group experienced a decline for the second consecutive day, decreasing by 3.38%, following the announcement that the Japanese conglomerate sold its entire $5.8 billion stake in Nvidia in October to finance its investment in OpenAI.
South Korea’s Kospi experienced an increase of 0.49% amid fluctuating trading conditions, concluding at 4,170.63, whereas the small-cap Kosdaq advanced by 1.31% to reach 918.37. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 reduced its losses to 0.52% at 8,753.4 following the release of government jobs data on Thursday, which indicated that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for October decreased to 4.3%. The most recent data surpassed the 4.4% estimate anticipated by economists surveyed by Reuters, showing an improvement from the 4.5% recorded in September. The unexpectedly favorable decrease in October diminishes anticipations for a reduction in rates, and the Australian dollar appreciated to 0.6556 relative to the US dollar.
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong experienced an increase of 0.56%, whereas the CSI 300 on the mainland saw a rise of 1.21%. India’s Nifty 50 experienced an increase of 0.47%. U.S. equity futures experienced a decline during the early hours in Asia following a sustained market rotation that propelled the Dow Jones Industrial Average to achieve its inaugural close above 48,000 on Wednesday in the United States.
In the latest trading session, the 30-stock Dow experienced an increase of 326.86 points, representing a rise of 0.68%, concluding at 48,254.82, and the index reached a new all-time intraday high during the session. The S&P 500 hovered near equilibrium, concluding with a modest increase of 0.06% at 6,850.92, whereas the Nasdaq Composite experienced a decline of 0.26%, closing at 23,406.46.