Despite Nvidia’s earnings boost, Asian stocks mixed
Wall Street retreated from record highs as concerns about high interest rates weighed on the market
Asian shares were trading mixed on Thursday, as investor sentiment in Tokyo was boosted by news of soaring Nvidia earnings.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei-225 gained 1.3 per cent to 39,103.22. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 sank 0.5 per cent to 7,811.80. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.1 per cent to 2,726.33. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 1.6 pe cent to 18,892.21, while the Shanghai Composite shed 1.2 per cent to 3,120.35.
Semiconductor related issues were boosted by news that Nvidia’s profit skyrocketed above forecasts, with quarterly net income climbing more than sevenfold from a year earlier to $14.88 billion. Revenue more than tripled for what’s become the iconic brand behind the recent artificial intelligence boom.
Also in Asia, the Bank of Korea kept its policy rate unchanged, as was widely expected. On Wall Street, indexes retreated from their records as concerns about high interest rates weighed on the market. The S&P-500 fell 0.3 per cent to 5,307.01, a day after setting its latest all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 0.5 per cent to 39,671.04, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.2 per cent to 16,801.54 after setting its latest record.
Indexes were close to flat early in the day, but slunk lower after the Federal Reserve released the minutes of its last policy meeting. They showed Fed officials suggesting it “would likely take longer than previously thought” to get inflation fully under control following disappointingly high readings early this year. And even though Fed Chair Jerome Powell said after that meeting that the Federal Reserve is more likely to cut rates than to hike them, the minutes said ‘various participants’ were willing to raise rates if inflation worsens.
That cut at the rekindled hopes on Wall Street that the Fed will be able to cut its main interest rate at least once this year. Lululemon Athletica sank 7.2 per cent after it said its chief product officer, Sun Choe, is leaving the company this month to “pursue another opportunity”.