Asian markets ended mostly lower on Thursday, with investors digesting a slew of economic reports from the region and reacting to a rate hike in the U.S.
Although most of the markets in the region started off on a slightly positive note, many of these gave up early gains. In China, the central bank's decision to increase rates on open market operations weighed on sentiment.
The Australian market failed to hold early gains, and ended flat, although a few front line stocks managed to register handsome gains.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index declined 10.5 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 6011.30, snapping a five-session winning streak. The All Ordinaries ended down 6.7 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 6096.40.
Shares of mining companies Indepndence Group and Resolute Mining Limited gained nearly 6.5% each. West Areas, Whitehaven Coal and Syrah Resources gained 4.75 - 5.4 percent.
Myer Holdings plunged 9.6 percent following a profit warning by the company. Metcash, RTL Food, Credit Corp and Qantas declined 2.8 - 3.3 percent.
In the economic news, the unemployment rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 5.4 percent in November, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. That was in line with expectations and unchanged from the October reading.
The Australian economy added 61,600 jobs last month - shattering expectations for a gain of 19,000 following the addition of 7,800 jobs in the previous month. Full-time employment gained 41,900 jobs to 8,501,900 following the addition of 31,000 in October, while part-time employment gained 19,700 to 3,901,100 following the loss of 23,200 a month prior.
The jobless rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 5.4 percent in November, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. That was in line with expectations and unchanged from the October reading.
Save for a few minutes at the start of the session, the Japanese market was down, in negative territory today, despite reasonably encouraging economic data.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 ended down 63.62 points or 0.28 percent at 22,694.45.
Rakuten declined nearly 5 percent. Konica Minolta, Yahoo Japan, Furukawa Electric, Chiyoda Corp, Daikin Industries, TDK Corp, Casio Computer, Concordia Financial Group, Nikon Corp, Credit Saison, Resona Holdings, Softbank Group, Mizuho Financial Group and Matsui Securities ended lower by 1 to 3 percent.
Konami Holdings, Toho Co., East Japan Railway, Tobu Railway, Dai Nippon Printing, Nitto Denko, Panasonic Corp., Japan Post Holdings and Takeda Pharmaceuticals moved up.
Data released by IHS Markit showed manufacturing activity in Japan to have expanded at the fastest pace in nearly four years in December. The Nikkei flash Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index climbed to 54.2 in December from 53.6 in November.
On the price front, input price inflation eased in December, while output price inflation accelerated to a 41-month high, data showed.
According to a report from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan's industrial production rebounded as initially estimated in October, rising a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent month-over-month. In September, production had declined 1.0 percent.
Inventories grew 3.2 percent over the month, just above the 3.1 percent increase reported earlier.
On a yearly basis, industrial production advanced at a faster pace of 5.9 percent in October, after a 2.6 percent rise in the preceding month, the data showed. Also, capacity utilization rate increased 0.2 percent monthly in October, in contrast to a 1.5 percent decrease in September.
In China, the Shanghai Composite Index declined 10.60 points or 0.32 percent to 3,292.44.
The Chinese central bank unexpectedly lifted its rates on open market operation, following the Federal Reserve's decision to tighten its policy rates. The People's Bank of China raised its 7-day and 28-day reverse repo rates by 5 basis points to 2.50 percent and 2.80 percent, respectively. The bank raised the rate on its Medium-term Lending Facility by 5 basis points to 3.25 percent.
Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed industrial production in China to have grown 6.1 percent year-on-year in November, slower than the 6.2 percent increase recorded a month earlier.
Meanwhile, retail sales grew at a faster pace on domestic consumption, improving to 10.2 percent, up 0.2 percent from the previous month.
Hong Kong's Hang Sensex index declined 55.72 points or 0.19 percent to settle at 29,166,.38.
The Singapore and South Korean markets ended weak as well, with the STI index and KOSPI shedding 0.88 percent and 0.45 percent, respectively.
Indonesia's JKSE ended 0.82 percent up and the Malaysian KLSE gained 1.16 percent, while in New Zealnd, the NZ50 edged up by nearly 0.5 percent.
In India, the Sensex is currently up marginally at 33,060.60 amid listless price movements due to inflation worries. The Nifty50 is up 6.25 points at 10,199.20.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve had hiked the benchmark interest rate by 0.25%, from 1.25% and maintained the earlier forecast for just three 1/4- point rate hike in 2018. The Federal Open Market Committee raised the GDP estimate from 2.5% for 2018 from an earlier projection of 2.1%, although it projected growth to be 2.1% in 2019 and 2% in the subsequent year.
However, inflation is projected to remain shy of the Fed's 2% goal for another year. Amid concerns about inflation, the policymakers said there is no reason to accelerate the expected pace of rate increases.
by RTT Staff Writer
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