Asia Pacific Markets: Live Updates

SINGAPORE – Asia-Pacific markets closed higher on Thursday, following gains on Wall Street Standard & Poor’s 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average It reached new records as investors shrugged off geopolitical concerns.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index ended the day up 0.43% to 8,223 points. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.34% to close at 2,603.25, while the Kosdaq small-cap index fell 0.22% to 776.52.

Japan Nikki 225 The index gained 0.26%, closing at 39,380.89, while the broad-based Topix index rose 0.2%, closing at 271,267.

Traders in Asia were evaluating the September data Producer prices in Japan Which increased by 2.8% over last year. Economists polled by Reuters had expected the inflation rate to reach 2.3%, down from 2.5% in August.

Investors also weighed the quarterly earnings report from Japanese retailer Seven & i Holdings Co Revised takeover bid From Couche-Tard Foods.

Seven&i has cut its operating profit forecast for the 12 months to the end of February, as well as its net profit forecast. Seven&i shares ended the trading day down 0.43% on Thursday.

The mainland’s CSI 300 index closed 1.06% higher at 3,997.78, while the Hong Kong index closed. Hang Seng Index It was up 3% as of the last hour of trading.

China’s central bank said it has begun accepting applications from financial institutions to join a newly created liquidity instrument — with an initial value of 500 billion yuan ($70.7 billion) — that will provide easier access to capital for the stock market.

The recovery in Chinese stocks comes after the market’s rally halted on Wednesday. The CSI 300 broke a 10-day winning streak to fall 7%. The reason for this rise was a campaign of government stimulus measures at the end of September.

The Chinese Ministry of Finance will hold a press conference on October 12, during which they may provide additional insights on fiscal policy and economic development.

Speaking to Street Signs Asia on Thursday, Chetan Ahia, chief Asia economist at Morgan Stanley, said Beijing would need to announce a 10 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) fiscal stimulus focused on boosting consumption to create a sustainable shift in investor confidence. .

“That’s not what we’re saying they’ll do, but we think they’ll need something like this to pull the economy out of the downturn,” Ahia said.

Overnight in the US, the S&P 500 rose 0.71% to close at 5,792.04 after hitting an all-time high, while the 30-stock Dow Jones index rose 431.63 points, or 1.03%, to 42,512 points to a record close. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.6% to close at 18,291.62 points.

Wall Street maintained gains after the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s September meeting, in which it cut interest rates by half a percentage point, revealing that a “large majority of participants” favored a deeper rate cut.

The strong trading day also came despite lingering fears of a wider war in the Middle East as promised by Israel Launch a retaliatory strike Against Iran.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics will release September data on consumer prices on Thursday morning in the US, and economists polled by Reuters expect core inflation to remain steady at 3.2% year-on-year.

— CNBC’s Samantha Sobin and Sarah Main contributed to this report.