People cross a street in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.
Marc Fernandes | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Shares in the Asia-Pacific were mixed Thursday as investors digest economic data in the region.
The Hang Seng index led gains in the wider region, jumping more than 3% in early trade before paring gains to about 1.74%, boosted by tech stocks. The Hang Seng Tech index rose more than 4% early in the session and was last up 2.19%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.55% and the Kospi added 1.52%. The MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1.23%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was 0.19% lower while the Topix lost 0.49%. Mainland China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component were fractionally lower at the end of the morning session.
South Korea’s third-quarter GDP grew 0.3% from the previous quarter, according to official advance data — the slowest growth since the third quarter of 2021. China’s industrial profits for January to September fell 2.3% compared to a year ago, the National Bureau of Statistics reported.
The Bank of Japan begins its two-day meeting on monetary policy Thursday. In corporate news, Samsung Electronics announced its third quarter earnings after releasing estimates earlier this month.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Nasdaq fell 2.04% to close at 10,970.99. The S&P 500 shed 0.74% to 3,830.60. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2.37 points, roughly flat for the day and ending at 31,839.11.