Asian shares were mixed Tuesday, echoing trading on Wall Street, where gains for oil and gas producers helped offset drops for Nvidia and other Big Tech companies.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 2.0% in afternoon trading to 38,394.09 following a holiday on Monday. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.5% to 8,231.00. South Korea’s Kospi edged up 0.3% to 2,497.95. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.9% to 19,234.98, while the Shanghai Composite surged 2.1% to 3,227.11.
“After a holiday break, Japan’s markets are playing catch-up following last week’s market selloff,” said Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist at IG.
Japan’s Finance Ministry reported that the surplus in the current account, a measure of the country’s foreign exchanges in goods, services and investments, rose to 3.4 trillion yen ($21 billion) in November, up 54.5% from the same month the previous year.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% after erasing an earlier fall of 0.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 358 points, or 0.9%, while the weakness for Big Tech stocks dragged the Nasdaq composite to a loss of 0.4%.
Stocks have been under pressure the last month, and the S&P 500 is coming off its fourth losing week in the last five as traders reduce expectations for how much relief the Federal Reserve may deliver this year through lower interest rates.
Such cuts would give the economy a boost, and the U.S. stock market ran to repeated records last year on the assumption that more are coming after the Fed began lowering rates in September. But inflation has remained above the Fed’s 2% target, and recent reports have suggested a still-solid U.S. economy doesn’t need much help. Questions are growing about whether the Fed will deliver even a single cut in 2025.
High rates put downward pressure on prices for all kinds of investments, and those seen as expensive can feel the stiffest punches. Nvidia fell 2% and was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500, though that represents just a smidgen of the index’s huge gains in recent years. The chip company’s stock had nearly quintupled over the last three years amid the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology.
Apple’s 1% slip and Meta Platforms’ fall of 1.2% were also among the heaviest weights on the market. Because they’re two of the largest companies on Wall Street, their moves pack more punch on the S&P 500 than other stocks.
Moderna tumbled 16.8% for the largest loss in the S&P 500 after giving a forecast for revenue this coming year that fell short of analysts’ expectations. The vaccine maker, which is seeing a slowdown in COVID-related sales, is accelerating a cost-cutting program.
