Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed on Thursday after Wall Street closed lower amid rising geopolitical tensions and comments from US President Donald Trump.
US defense stocks fell after Trump said he “will not allow” defense firms to pay dividends or buy back shares until they address his grievances about the industry, including executive pay packages and production problems.
Oil prices also fell overnight after Trump said Venezuela’s interim government would hand over as much as 50 million barrels of crude oil to the U.S., raising concerns about an increase in global supply.
Brent crude futures were down 0.51% at $60.39 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude added 0.61% at $56.33 a barrel by 7:30 a.m. Singapore time (6:30 p.m. EST Wednesday).
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.69%, weighed down by basic materials and technology stocks. Among the biggest decliners were SoftBank, which lost 4%, and Tokyo Electron, which supplies factories that make Nvidia’s chips with basic chip-making equipment, fell 2.9%. The broader Topix index retreated by 0.17%, reports SEEbiz.
South Korea’s Kospi added 1.27%, while the small-cap Kosdaq rose 0.1%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed up 0.29% at 8,720.8. Shares in BlueScope Steel fell 1.57% after the firm rejected a $9 billion takeover bid from US Steel Dynamics and Australian conglomerate SGH, whose shares also fell 1.92%.
On Thursday afternoon, BlueScope’s largest investor, AustralianSuper, increased its voting power in the steelmaker to 13.52%, from 12.5%, according to an after-market filing.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.97%, led by losses in basic materials and technology stocks. Lenovo Group fell 3.44%, Kuaishou Technology lost 2.85% and Baidu traded down 2.76%. CSI 300 on land remained unchanged.
India’s Nifty 50 fell 0.21%, while the BSE Sensex index was lower by 0.22%.
