Stock market today: Asian shares are mostly higher as S&P 500 nears the 5,000 level for the 1st time
BANGKOK– Shares were mainly higher in Asia on Thursday, following the S&P500 approached the 5,000 level for the first time.
Hong Kong’s benchmark fell while Shanghai advanced after China replaced its top stock market regulator. Tokyo rose 2% on strong corporate earnings.
Beijing is struggling to keep the world’s worst-performing markets afloat this year. As part of these efforts, China’s stock regulator was replaced late Wednesday by a former chairman of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Wu Qing, also a former banker and ex-vice mayor of Shanghai, has been dubbed the “broker killer,” analysts say, because of his track record in cracking down on market abuses such as insider trading.
The announcement that Yi Huiman was dismissed from his position as chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission came without any explanation. But the ruling Communist Party may have chosen him as a way to demonstrate its determination to protect smaller investors who have fallen victim to the recent sell-off.
Market observers have cited the lack of transparency around the way markets are governed as a factor undermining investor confidence.
On Thursday, the Shanghai Composite index rose 1.3% to 2,865.90 and the Shenzhen Components index in China’s smaller main market also rose 1.3%. Markets in mainland China will be closed from Friday to next week for the Lunar New Year holidays.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.2% to 15,887.04 on heavy selling from technology companies, despite strong profits for property developers.
Shares of e-commerce giant Alibaba fell 6.7% after the company announced a major share buyback and said it had abandoned plans for a share listing for two of its group companies.
Elsewhere in Asia, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 2.1% to 36,863.28 and the Kospi in Seoul was 0.4% higher at 2,620.32.
The Australian S&The P/ASX 200 rose 0.3% to 7,639.20.
Bangkok’s SET lost 0.5% and India’s Sensex lost 0.7%.
On Wednesday, Wall Street soared to the brink of another record-breaking milestone as Ford Motor, Chipotle Mexican Grill and other major stocks rose after their latest earnings reports.
The S&The P500 gained 0.8% and came within a fraction of a point of the 5,000 level before ending the day at 4,995.06.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4% to 38,677.36, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.9% to 15,756.64.
New York Community Bancorp went from an initial gain to a steep 14% loss and back to a 6.7% gain. The bank is still down more than half since shocking investors across the sector with a surprise loss last week.
The country has been hit by weakness in the commercial real estate market and is also facing challenges related to the acquisition of Signature Bank, one of the banks that collapsed during last year’s mini-crisis for the sector.
Elsewhere on Wall Street, Ford Motor rose 6% after better-than-expected results, while Enphase Energy rose 16.9% despite falling just short of expectations. Investors are hopeful that weak demand for the solar and battery system supplier is nearing a trough.
Chipotle Mexican Grill rose 7.2% after reporting stronger earnings and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
CVS Health gained 3.1% after also beating expectations for both profit and revenue in the final three months of 2023.
Such gains helped offset a 9.7% decline for VF Corp., the company behind Vans, The North Face and other brands. It reported weaker results than analysts expected.
Snap fell 34.6% after fourth-quarter revenue fell short of analyst expectations. The company behind Snapchat also gave a tepid forecast for 2024 after saying Monday it would lay off 10% of its workforce.
In other trading Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude gained 34 cents to $74.20 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, added 37 cents to $79.58 a barrel.
The dollar rose from 148.18 yen to 148.71 Japanese yen. The euro rose from $1.0774 to $1.0789.