Asian shares were mostly higher on Thursday after stocks eked out small gains on Wall Street following a mixed set of reports on the economy.
Benchmarks rose in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney.
Stocks fell in Shanghai after China’s market regulator said it has launched an anti-monopoly investigation of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group
9988,
BABA,
stepping up official efforts to tighten control over the country’s fast-growing tech industries.
China also is ramping up its scrutiny of the practice of community group buying, summoning some of the nation’s largest tech companies for discussions as part of the anti-monopoly push.
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation also recently summoned six companies, including Alibaba and other e-commerce platforms such as JD.com
JD,
and Pinduoduo
PDD,
gaming company Tencent
700,
food delivery firm Meituan
3690,
and ridesharing firm Didi Chuxing to talk about the potential ramifications of community group buying.
The Shanghai Composite index
SHCOMP,
lost 0.2%. Shares also fell on the smaller market in southern China’s Shenzhen
399106,
But elsewhere, Christmas Eve trading was upbeat. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index
NIK,
gained 0.4% on Thursday and the Hang Seng
HSI,
in Hong Kong edged 0.2% higher. In South Korea, the Kospi
180721,
jumped 1.3% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200
XJO,
rose 0.4%. Stocks advanced in Taiwan
Y9999,
and Singapore
STI,
“Although some reshuffling of portfolios in emerging Asia was to be expected ahead of the holiday break, the underlying theme is a positive one,” Jeffrey Halley of Oanda said in a commentary.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500
SPX,
inched up 0.1% to 3,690.01. The benchmark index set a record high on Thursday and is up 14.2% so far this year.
Gains by financial, communication services, energy and other sectors were kept in check by declines elsewhere, including technology companies, which helped pulled the Nasdaq
COMP,
slightly lower.
An hour before trading began on Wall Street, the government released an avalanche of data on the economy that showed some optimistic signs and several disappointing ones.
The Labor Department said fewer U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits last week. The number is still incredibly high compared with before the pandemic, but it was better than economists were expecting.
Another report said that orders for long-lasting goods strengthened by more than expected last month, a good sign for the nation’s manufacturers.
But other reports were grimmer. Consumers pulled back on their spending by more last month than economists expected. It was the first drop since April and was mainly because incomes dropped…
Read More News: Asian markets mostly higher, but stocks fall in China amid Alibaba antitrust probe
