hong kong skyline
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Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Friday, with trading weaker on Wall Street.
Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 rose 0.19% to 8,634.6.
Japanese benchmark Nikkei Stock Average The index fell 1.05% to end at 50,491.87, while TOPIX fell 1.05% to 3,362.56. Japan’s 10-year government bond yield rose to 1.94%, the highest level since July 2007, according to LSEG data.
Korean Kospi The Kosdaq index fell 0.55% to 924.74.
hong kong Hang Seng Index The mainland CSI 300 rose 0.84% to 4,584.54.
Shares of Moore Thread, the Beijing-based graphics processing equipment maker also known as “China’s Nvidia,” soared more than 400% in its Shanghai debut after going public for $1.1 billion.
The market has been keeping an eye on tech stocks amid recent bubble concerns. SoftBank shares rose nearly 4%, marking a third straight day of gains. The stock pared its gains slightly and was up 1.02% in recent trading.
Founder Masayoshi Son downplayed the conglomerate’s decision to sell all of its stake in Nvidia on Monday, saying he was “crying” about giving up his shares.
India’s Nifty 50 rose 0.2% after the Reserve Bank of India cut its policy rate by 25 basis points to 5.25%, in line with economists’ forecasts polled by Reuters.
RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said the Monetary Policy Committee unanimously decided on the cut due to “weakness in some key economic indicators” even though headline inflation has eased significantly and is expected to be revised downward in the first quarter of 2025.
Overnight in the US market, the average of the three major stocks traded mixedly. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose slightly as investors prepared for next week’s Federal Reserve interest rate decision.
The Composite Index rose 0.11% to end at 6,857.12, while the Nasdaq Composite Index rose just 0.22% to end at 23,505.14. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell just 31.96 points, or 0.07%, to 47,850.94.
—CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Pia Singh contributed to this report.
