Asian Markets Track Wall Street Lower

(RTTNews) - Mirroring the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Thursday, as energy stocks tumbled amid a sharp fall in crude oil prices and traders reacted to some economic data emerging from the region, including from Australia and China. Traders are also reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the closely watched US monthly jobs report on Friday. Asian Markets closed mostly higher on Wednesday.

The Australian stock market is modestly lower on Thursday, giving up some of the gains in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying below the 7,200 level, with losses in losses in energy stocks amid tumbling crude oil prices, partially offset by strong gains in iron ore miners and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 23.10 points or 0.32 percent to 7,155.30, after hitting a low of 7,150.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 20.90 points or 0.28 percent to 7,365.80. Australian stocks ended sharply higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Mineral Resources are edging up 0.2 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is gaining almost 2 percent and Rio Tinto is adding more than 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mixed. Santos, Woodside Energy and Beach energy are losing more than 2 percent each, while Origin Energy is declining 1.5 percent.

In the tech space, WiseTech Global and are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Appen is surging more than 4 percent, Afterpay owner Block is adding almost 4 percent. Xero is edging down 0.2 percent and Zip is skyrocketing 15.5 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Westpac is edging up 0.3 percent.

Among gold miners, Resolute Mining is declining more than 3 percent and Northern Star Resources is edging down 0.3 percent. Gold Road Resources and Evolution Mining are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Newmont is gaining almost 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Perpetual are jumping almost 8 percent after the firm officially rejected a $3 billion buyout offer from investment conglomerate Washington H. Soul Pattinson to break up the funds business.

In economic news, the number of building approvals issued in Australia was up a seasonally adjusted 7.5 percent on month in October, the Australian Bureau of Statistics or ABS said on Thursday, standing at 14,223. That was in line with expectations following the upwardly revised 4.0 percent decline in September (originally -4.6 percent). On a yearly basis, approvals fell 6.1 percent - again matching forecasts following the 20.6 percent drop in the previous month.

The ABS also said Australia posted a seasonally adjusted merchandise trade surplus of A$7.129 billion in October. That was shy of expectations for A$7.5 billion but still up from the downwardly revised A$6.184 billion surplus in September (originally A$6.786 billion). Exports rose 0.4 percent on month to A$45.548 billion, while imports slumped 1.9 percent to A$38.419 billion.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.654 on Thursday.

Giving up the gains in the previous session, the Japanese stock market is trading sharply lower on Thursday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling a tad below the 32,900 level, with losses across most sectors led by exporters and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 32,899.94, down 545.96 points or 1.63 percent, after hitting a low of 32,876.43 earlier. Japanese stocks closed sharply higher on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is declining almost 1 percent and Honda is losing 1.5 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing almost 4 percent and Tokyo Electron is declining almost 3 percent, while Screen Holdings is down more than 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging down 0.2 percent, while Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.4 percent. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is flat.

Among the major exporters, Canon and Mitsubishi Electric are losing almost 1 percent each, while Panasonic and Sony are declining more than 1 percent each.

Among other major losers, Renesas Electronics and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha are losing almost 4 percent each, while Yokogawa Electric, M3 and CyberAgent are declining more than 3 percent each. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Mercari, Shimizu and Inpex are down almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Tokyo Electric Power is gaining more than 4 percent and Sompo Holdings is adding almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 146 yen-range on Thursday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong and Singapore are down 1.7 to 1.0 percent, respectively. New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are lower by between 0.1 and 0.4 percent each. Indonesia is relatively flat.

On Wall Street, stocks gave up their gains after a positive start and moved along the flat line till around mid-afternoon on Wednesday, before drifting lower to end the day's session on a weak note.

The major averages all ended modestly lower. The Dow, which advanced to 36,292.58 in early trades, settled at 36,054.43, losing 70.13 points or 0.19 percent. The S&P 500 ended down 17.84 points or 0.39 percent at 4,549.34, while the Nasdaq closed lower by 83.20 points or 0.58 percent at 14,146.71.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index surged 0.75 percent, the French CAC 40 climbed 0.66 percent, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced 0.34 percent. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended up 0.52 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Wednesday, extending losses to a fifth straight day after data showed a large increase in gasoline inventories in the U.S. last week, raising concerns about the outlook for fuel demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January sank $2.94 or 4.1 percent at $69.38 a barrel.