Asian Markets Trading Mostly Lower

Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Thursday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, on renewed concerns over the health of the US financial sector. The outlook for interest rate hikes and a potential recession in the U.S. is also hurting sentiment. Asian Markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday.

Traders await a slew of upcoming central bank meetings, most notably the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank, due over the next two weeks. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) is likely to keep its monetary policy steady on Friday.

The Australian stock market is notably lower on Thursday, extending the losses in the previous four sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 7,300 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, dragged by weakness in financial, technology and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 31.60 points or 0.43 percent to 7,284.70, after hitting a low of 7,275.80 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 29.00 points or 0.39 percent to 7,473.80. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is edging down 0.3 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos is losing almost 1 percent, Woodside Energy is declining more than 1 percent and Beach energy is edging down 0.5 percent, while Origin Energy is edging up 0.4 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is declining almost 2 percent, Xero is losing almost 1 percent and WiseTech Global is edging down 0.2 percent, while Appen is gaining almost 5 percent and Zip is up almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are losing more than 1 percent each, while ANZ Banking is edging down 0.4 percent and Westpac is declining almost 1 percent.

Among gold miners, Newcrest Mining is declining almost 1 percent, Gold Road Resources is down more than 1 percent, Evolution Mining is edging down 0.5 percent and Northern Star Resources is losing almost 2 percent, while Resolute Mining is gaining more than 1 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.661 on Thursday.

The Japanese stock market is modestly lower on Thursday, extending the losses in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 28,400 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight and dragged by weakness in technology stocks. The turmoil in the US banking sector is also hurting sentiment.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 28,349.95, down 66.52 points or 0.23 percent, after hitting a low of 28,241.67 earlier. Japanese stocks closed significantly lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging up 0.1 percent and Honda is adding almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is losing almost 2 percent, Tokyo Electron is declining 1.5 percent and Advantest is plunging more than 11 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing almost 1 percent, while Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.4 percent, Sony is gaining more than 2 percent and Canon is advancing almost 4 percent, while Panasonic is losing almost 1 percent.

Among the other major losers, Nomura Holdings is losing almost 8 percent, Hitachi Zosen is down almost 4 percent, Hino Motors is down more than 3 percent and Shimizu is slipping almost 3 percent.

Conversely, JTEKT is gaining almost 5 percent, Nitto Denko is adding more than 4 percent, Hitachi Construction Machinery is up almost 4 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 133 yen-range on Thursday.

Elsewhere in Asia, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia are higher by between 0.1 and 0.5 percent each, while New Zealand and Singapore are down 0.1 and 0.5 percent, respectively.

On Wall Street, stock indexes turned in a mixed performance during trading on Wednesday following the sell-off seen in the previous session. While the tech-heavy Nasdaq bounced off its lowest closing level in almost a month, the Dow and the S&P 500 saw further downside.

The Nasdaq pulled back well off its best levels of the day but still closed up 55.19 points or 0.5 percent at 11,854.35. Meanwhile, the Dow slid 228.96 points or 0.7 percent to 33,301.87, and the S&P 500 fell 15.64 points or 0.4 percent to 4,055.99.

Meanwhile, the major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 0.9 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index both fell by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil futures ended sharply lower Wednesday as worries about the outlook for energy demand dragged down oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June were down $2.77 or 3.6 percent to settle at $74.30 a barrel.

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