Asian Mkts mixed, Wall St dips lower

Bangkok: Shares were mixed in Asia on Thursday after a lackluster day on Wall Street, where selling of technology stocks pulled benchmarks lower. US futures were flat and oil prices also were barely changed. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index was down 0.1% at 39,166.19 after data showed factory output falling in January at the fastest pace since May 2020, although retail sales were stronger than expected.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.4% to 16,604.18 and the Shanghai Composite index jumped 1.9% to 3,012.68. The smaller index in Shenzhen was up 3.4% after regulators released new measures to support markets including closer oversight of financial derivatives.

But technology services company Baidu was down 6.9% after reporting its profit fell 48% in the October-December quarter due to higher spending as it strives to keep up with rivals in the artificial intelligence field. South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.4% to 2,642.36 while the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.5% to 7,698.70. Bangkok’s SET lost 0.4% and the Sensex in India was up 0.1%.