Stock market today: Asian shares are mixed after Wall Street slips lower and bitcoin bounces higher

BANGKOK– Stocks in Asia were mixed on Thursday after a lackluster day on Wall Street, where selling in technology stocks dragged benchmarks lower.

US futures were flat and oil prices were little changed.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.1% to 39,166.19 after data showed January factory output fell at the fastest pace since May 2020, although retail sales were stronger than expected.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.4% to 16,604.18 and the Shanghai Composite index rose 1.9% to 3,012.68. The smaller index in Shenzhen rose 3.4% after regulators introduced new measures to support markets, including stricter supervision of financial derivatives.

But technology services company Baidu fell 6.9% after reporting that its profit fell 48% in the October-December quarter due to higher spending as it strives to keep up with rivals in artificial intelligence.

South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.4% to 2,642.36, while the S&The P/ASX 200 rose 0.5% to 7,698.70. Bangkok’s SET lost 0.4% and India’s Sensex rose 0.1%.

On Wednesday the S&The P500 fell 0.2% to 5,069.76, continuing its quiet and lethargic run since setting a record last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% to 38,949.02. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.5% to 15,947.74, a day after staying within 0.1% of its 2021 record high.

Treasury yields also fell in the bond market after a report showed the U.S. economy was likely to grow slightly slower at the end of 2023 than previously estimated. The economy continues to defy expectations of a recession despite high interest rates intended to reduce inflation.

A 1.3% drop for Nvidia and a 1.8% decline for Google’s parent company Alphabet were two of the biggest drags on the market. They are among a small group of Big Tech stocks that have been disproportionately responsible for the S&The P 500 has broken records.

Such concentration in the market could be a worrying signal, said Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute. Broad gains across a wide variety of stocks are usually a more favorable sign that market strength is sustainable.

Bumble fell 14.8% after reporting weaker results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The dating and friendship app company, which recently revamped its leadership team, also provided a revenue forecast for the coming year that fell short of analyst expectations.

Boston Beer, the company behind Samuel Adams, fell 15.8% after reporting a bigger loss than analysts expected. It was hurt by declines for its really hard seltzer.

Urban Outfitters fell 12.8% after the retailer reported weaker than expected results. The company, which also operates Anthropologie stores, said sales at its Urban Outfitters locations continue to weaken.

eBay helped limit the market’s losses, which rose 7.9% after reporting stronger results than analysts expected. Axon Enterprise, the company that sells Tasers, body cameras and other equipment, also posted a better-than-expected earnings report and its shares rose 13.8%.

Coinbase gained 0.8% after rising even more earlier in the day, to continue its strong run as the price of Bitcoin continues to rise. New exchange-traded funds that make investing in Bitcoin easier have increased interest in the cryptocurrency, with BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin fund alone quickly growing to $7 billion in assets.

The price of Bitcoin briefly reached $64,000 on Wednesday for the first time since 2021. The price is closing in on a record high of nearly $69,000, after rising more than 40% so far this year.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong apologized to customers during the day for issues they encountered as the company “experienced a HUGE surge of traffic” as the price of Bitcoin soared. The company said some users may have seen zero balances in their accounts and made mistakes when buying and selling.

Beyond Meat rose 30.7%, although it reported much weaker than expected results for the latest quarter. Sales were slightly better than expected after the decline was less than expected, and profitability is likely to increase through 2024.

In other trading Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude gained 2 cents to $78.56 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude, the international standard, rose 1 cent to $82.16 a barrel.

The US dollar fell from 150.69 yen to 149.78 Japanese yen. The euro rose from $1.0834 to $1.0836.