MANILA, Philippines (AP) \u2014 Most Asian stock indexes rose on Thursday, tracking gains on Wall Street following a topsy-turvy trading day.<\/p>\n
U.S. futures edged higher and oil prices gained. <\/p>\n
Japan\u2019s Nikkei 225 rose 1.3% to 48,277.74 as investor sentiment was lifted by a strong start to the earnings season and expectations of U.S. rate cuts.<\/p>\n
Japan\u2019s core machinery orders, excluding ships and electric power, fell 0.9% month-on-month in August, missing market expectations for a 0.4% gain. But they marked improved from a 4.6% drop in July, according to data released Thursday.<\/p>\n
South Korea\u2019s Kospi surged to a record high, adding 2.5% to 3,748.37 on buying of tech and auto stocks that was spurred by hopes for a trade deal with U.S. Samsung Electronics and automakers Hyundai Motor and Kia Corp. were among the big gainers.<\/p>\n
In Chinese markets, Hong Kong\u2019s Hang Seng index shed 0.4% to 25,812.20, while the Shanghai Composite index was nearly flat at 3,911.42.<\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s S&P\/ASX 200 closed nearly 0.9% higher at 9,068.40, breaching the 9,000 level for the first time amid gains in gold stocks. Miners in resource-rich Australia are benefitting from a runup in gold prices. Early Thursday, the precious metal was up 0.9% at 4,237.60 per ounce. <\/p>\n
Also, the jobless rate rose to 4.5% in September, the highest in four years, stepping up expectations that the country\u2019s Reserve Bank may resume rate cuts as early as next month.<\/p>\n
India\u2019s BSE Sensex added 0.5% while Taiwan\u2019s Taiex advanced 1.4%.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, most U.S. stocks rose. The S&P 500 added 0.4% to 6,671.06, but only after jumping toward one of its biggest gains since the summer, erasing it all and then climbing back.<\/p>\n
The Nasdaq composite climbed 0.7%, closing at 22,670.08 after earlier pinballing between a drop of 0.4% and a rally of 1.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged the market, shedding less than 0.1% to 46,253.31.<\/p>\n
Technology stocks helped lead the way Wednesday following a better-than-expected profit report from Netherlands-based ASML, a major equipment supplier to the semiconductor industry. It expects its revenue for 2025 to be 15% above last year\u2019s, while next year\u2019s should be at least as high as this year\u2019s. Several big banks also drove the market higher. <\/p>\n
Companies are under pressure to deliver strong profits after their stock prices broadly surged 35% from a low in April. To justify those gains, which critics say made their stock prices too expensive<\/a>, companies will need to show they\u2019re making much more in profit and will continue to do so. <\/p>\n Profit reports are under more scrutiny than usual as investors seek insights into the health of the U.S. economy. The U.S. government\u2019s latest shutdown<\/a> is delaying important updates on the economy, such as a report on inflation <\/a> that was due Wednesday.<\/p>\n In other dealings early Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 51 cents to $58.78 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 41 cents to $62.32 per barrel.<\/p>\n The dollar rose to 151.20 Japanese yen from 151.06 yen. The euro climbed to $1.1660 from $1.1648.<\/p>\n Teresa Cerojano, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MANILA, Philippines (AP) \u2014 Most Asian stock indexes rose on Thursday, tracking gains on Wall Street following a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216901,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46],"class_list":["post-216900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}