Japan's Nikkei stock average has been the best-performing of Asia's major economic stock indexes this year, and many see room for further gains in the region's stock markets in 2024.
Marco Bottighelli | Moment | Getty Images
Most Asia-Pacific markets fell on Thursday as semiconductor stocks slumped on reports of tougher U.S. export controls and comments from former U.S. President Donald Trump escalated geopolitical tensions.
Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 2.36% to close at 40,126.35, while the Topix fell 1.6% to close at 2,868.63.
| Ticker | company | name | price | change | %change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| .N225 | Nikkei Stock Average | Nikkei | 40,126.35 | -971.34 | -2.36% |
| .HSI | Hang Seng Index | HSI | 17,806.20 | +66.79 | +0.38% |
| .AXJO | S&P/ASX 200 | ASX 200 | 8,036.50 | -21.40 | -0.27% |
| .SSEC | Shanghai | Shanghai | 2,977.13 | +14.28 | +0.48% |
| .KS11 | KOSPI Index | Korea Composite Stock Price Index | 2,824.35 | -18.94 | -0.67% |
| .FTFCNBCA | CNBC 100 Asia IDX | CNBC 100 | 10,163.51 | -111.87 | -1.09% |
Japan's exports rose 5.4% year-on-year in June, down sharply from a 13.5% increase in May. Imports rose 3.2% year-on-year last month, down from a 9.5% increase in May. Both exports and imports fell short of Reuters forecasts of 6.4% and 9.3% increases, respectively.
Japan's trade balance turned to a surplus of 224 billion yen ($7.7 billion) from a deficit of 1.2 trillion yen ($7.7 billion) in May.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.64% in the final hour of trading, while China's CSI300 index followed suit, closing up 0.55% at 3,520.93.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 closed down 0.27% at 8,036.50. Data released earlier by the country's statistics bureau showed the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 4.1% in June, up 0.1 percentage point from May.
Australian labour statistics director Bjorn Jarvis said in a statement that employment in Australia increased by about 50,000 and the number of unemployed people increased by 10,000. The labour force participation rate rose to 66.9%, just 0.1 percentage point below its record high of 67% set in November last year.
In the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 41,198.08, up 243.60 points (0.59%) from the previous day. This is the first time the index has closed above 41,000 points. The S&P 500 Index fell 1.39%, with the Information Technology and Communication Services sector being the weakest performer of the session.
The Nasdaq Composite Index fell about 2.8% overnight, its worst day since December 2022.
The tech-heavy index fell 2.77% to close at 17,996.92 as investors continued to favor interest-sensitive stocks over big tech names amid growing optimism about a rate cut after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell warned against keeping interest rates high for too long.
—CNBC's Alex Harring and Pia Singh contributed to this report.
