Sunset scene of light trails traffic speeds through an intersection in Gangnam center business district of Seoul at Seoul city, South Korea
Mongkol Chuewong | Moment | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed Thursday, after private sector hiring in the U.S. hit its lowest level in over two years, raising concerns that trade policy uncertainty could be weighing on the world’s largest economy.
A report from payrolls processing firm ADP showed that payrolls rose only 37,000 for the month, less than the downwardly revised 60,000 in April and below the consensus forecast of 110,000 that economists polled by Dow Jones had forecast.
South Korean markets extended gains from the previous session, with the benchmark Kospi advancing 1.49% to close at 2,812.05 after hitting a more than 10-month high earlier in the day, while the small-cap Kosdaq rose 0.8% to close at 756.23.
Analysts at Nomura expect the Kospi to hit 2,900 by the end of the year, fueled by capital market reforms President Lee Jae-myung is expected to undertake. It is currently at around 2,800.
Lee is also expected to “focus on lifting domestic demand by quickly rolling out a second extra budget in July,” the bank’s analysts, led by Jeong Woo Park, wrote in a Wednesday note.
“We expect a more expansionary fiscal policy during his presidency than in the government’s long-term fiscal plan (an average 3.7% y-o-y rise in spending over the next three years),” they added.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.51% to end the trading day at 37,554.49, while the broader Topix index lost 1.03% to close at 2,756.47.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed flat at 8,538.9.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index climbed 0.85% while mainland China’s CSI 300 rose 0.23% to close at 3,877.56.
India’s benchmark Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex added 0.84% and 0.77% respectively. The Reserve Bank of India is expected to cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-percentage point to 5.75% on Friday after a two-day meeting.
— CNBC’s Pia Singh, Sean Conlon and Sarah Min contributed to this report.
