Stocks dip in Hong Kong and Tokyo
Shares were mixed in Asia after major Chinese property developer Evergrande said a plan to sell its property management arm to a smaller rival had fallen through.
Shares slipped in Hong Kong and Tokyo but rose in most other regional markets.
China Evergrande Group’s shares 3333, -12.54% tumbled nearly 12% while shares in Evergrande Property Services 6666, -8.01% slipped 6.8%. In a notice to the Hong Kong exchange Evergrande said it was having difficulties selling off assets to resolve its cash crunch.
Hopson Development Holdings’ shares 754, +7.57% rose 5.2% after it said was unable to complete the purchase. Trading of shares in all three companies had been suspended pending a resolution of the transaction.
Some “verbal assurances by government officials and loosening of home loans for some of its major banks suggest that the authorities are monitoring the property market risks, hoping to reassure markets of the knock-on impact on the economy,” said Yeap Jun Rong, a market strategist at IG in Singapore.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index HSI, -0.45% edged 0.2% lower while the Shanghai Composite index SHCOMP, +0.22% gained 0.5%.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei NIK, -1.87% slipped 0.5% in morning trading, as the world’s third largest economy headed into nationwide elections to select a new prime minister.
The candidate from Japan’s ruling party, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, has given mixed messages about his policies, and his “new capitalism” measures, which include promises to reduce income disparities. That has done little to reassure markets so far.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 XJO, +0.02% gained 0.2% and South Korea’s Kospi 180721, -0.19% rose 0.2%. Stocks gained in Taiwan Y9999, +0.01%, but slipped in Singapore STI, -0.30% and Indonesia JAKIDX, -0.35%.
Bond yields rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.67% from 1.65% late Wednesday.
The price of bitcoin BTCUSD, -0.75% slipped to $64,795 after surpassing $66,000 for the first time on Wednesday. The gains came a day after the first exchange-traded fund linked to bitcoin futures attracted huge interest from investors looking to get into the surging field of cryptocurrencies.
On Wednesday, solid earnings from health care companies helped send stocks higher on Wall Street.
The market has been gaining ground as investors shift their focus to the latest round of corporate earnings. Stocks have been choppy for weeks as rising inflation and lackluster economic data raised concerns about the path ahead for the economic recovery.
The S&P 500 SPX, -0.17% rose 0.4% to 4,536.19, its sixth straight gain. That put it less than a point from an all-time high set on Sept. 2.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.27% rose 0.4% to 35,609.34. The Nasdaq COMP, 0.00% fell less than 0.1%, to 15,121.68.
“The reason we’re seeing this rally over the last week is that company earnings are looking really good,” said Sylvia Jablonski, chief investment officer at Defiance ETFs. “Most companies are managing inflationary pressures and pricing issues and that’s helping to alleviate concerns about overvaluation and inflation.”
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude CLX21 gained 13 cents to $83.55 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude BRNZ21, -0.98%, the international standard, lost 3 cents to $85.79 a barrel.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar USDJPY, -0.58% fell to 114.22 Japanese yen from 114.27 yen.