{"id":7412,"date":"2021-02-11T08:43:20","date_gmt":"2021-02-11T08:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/2021\/02\/11\/asian-shares-mixed-in-thin-holiday-trade\/"},"modified":"2021-02-11T08:43:20","modified_gmt":"2021-02-11T08:43:20","slug":"asian-shares-mixed-in-thin-holiday-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/2021\/02\/11\/asian-shares-mixed-in-thin-holiday-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"Asian Shares Mixed In Thin Holiday Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Asian stocks ended mixed on Thursday, with many markets<\/span> including South Korea, Taiwan and China closed for the Lunar New Year holidays. The Japanese markets were also shuttered in observance of National Foundation Day.<\/p>\n

U.S. stimulus hopes offered some support after a Labor Department report showed tame consumer price inflation in January and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that the U.S. is still “very far” from a strong labor market. <\/p>\n

Australian shares fluctuated before finishing little changed. The benchmark S&P\/ASX 200 ended marginally lower at 6,850.10, while the broader All Ordinaries index closed 0.16 percent lower at 7,122.10.<\/p>\n

Mining heavyweights BHP and Rio Tinto rose about 1 percent while gold miner Newcrest Mining surged 4 percent and Northern Star Resources advanced 1.7 percent.<\/p>\n

Newcrest today reported an underlying profit for the half-year period that almost doubled from last year. The company also affirmed its full-year gold as well as copper forecast.<\/p>\n

Telecom company Telstra rallied 2.5 percent despite a weak fiscal half-year result. <\/p>\n

Energy stocks ended broadly lower as oil prices gave up some of their recent gains on dollar strength and profit taking. <\/p>\n

Wealth manager AMP plunged 11 percent after it reported a nearly 33 percent fall in underlying net profit for the full year and said it will not pay a final dividend.<\/p>\n

New Zealand shares ended lower amid rising bond yields and valuation concerns. The benchmark NZX-50 index dropped 68.90 points, or 0.54 percent, to 12,761.13, extending losses for the third straight session. Meridian Energy shares slumped 4.4 percent and A2 Milk Company lost 1.1 percent.<\/p>\n

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.45 percent to 30,173.57 while India’s Sensex was up 0.2 percent.<\/p>\n

Overnight, U.S. stocks hit record intraday highs before ending on a mixed note as investors cheered upbeat earnings news and President Joe Biden signaled support for keeping income thresholds for $1,400 stimulus checks.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell appeared to express support for more stimulus, saying maintaining “patiently accommodative monetary policy” will be important to returning to a strong labor market and more needs to be done.<\/p>\n

The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.2 percent, while the S&P 500 finished marginally lower and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 0.3 percent. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Business News<\/p>\n<\/div>\n