Shares dropped in Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney and Hong Kong, but gained in Shanghai
Asian shares were mostly down Wednesday after a mixed session on Wall Street following a three-day holiday weekend.
Shares dropped in Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney and Hong Kong, but gained in Shanghai. Mainland Chinese markets were lifted by moves by city governments in China to support the property market.
Oil prices also rose.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.4% in early trading to 38,695.05. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 1.0% to 7,688.60. South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.9% to 2,698.43. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slid 1.1% to 18,611.59, while the Shanghai Composite inched up 0.4% to 3,123.00.
On Wall Street, most U.S. stocks dropped in a quiet day of trading Tuesday, after bond yields rose.
Around three out of every four stocks dropped within the S&P 500. But strength for a handful of Big Tech stocks helped the index hold up overall. It edged up 1.32, or less than 0.1%, to 5,306.04.
The DJIA dropped 0.6% to 38,852.86. The Nasdaq composite rode the strength of tech stocks to gain 0.6%, to 17,019.88 and added to its latest all-time high set on Friday.
Nvidia led the way and climbed 7% to bring its gain for the year so far to a massive 130%. It is still riding a wave created by its latest blowout profit report from last week, which calmed some of the concerns that Wall Street’s frenzy around AI technology has inflated expectations and prices beyond reasonable levels.
U.S. Cellular jumped 12.2% after T-Mobile said it will buy almost all of the company. The deal is valued at $4.4 billion and includes up to $2 billion in assumed debt. Shares of T-Mobile US gained 0.8%.
GameStop climbed 25.2% after it said it raised $933.4 million in cash through a previously announced sale of stock. The firm, whose stock price has often moved more on investors’ enthusiasm than any change to its profit prospects, said it could use the cash for acquisitions, investments or other general corporate purposes.
They helped offset declines for health care stocks, which had some of Wall Street’s sharpest losses. Moderna dropped 8%, Merck declined 2.6% and Vertex Pharmaceuticals dipped 2.2%.
The majority of other stocks on Wall Street also dropped, feeling the effects of a modest increase in Treasury yields.
