TOKYO — Asian shares were mixed in lackluster trading on Thursday.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 reversed course from earlier losses to end at 38,807.38, up 0.3%. The shares of Nissan Motor Co. rose 2.2% after an unconfirmed report in Japanese media that the automaker behind the Leaf electric car was about to sign an electric vehicle deal with domestic rival Honda Motor Co. Honda shares rose 1.1%.
Both Nissan and Honda declined comment.
Sydney’s S&The P/ASX 200 fell 0.2% to 7,713.60. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.9% to 2,718.76. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.9% to 16,929.12, while the Shanghai Composite fell 0.2% to 3,038.23.
“In a major turn of events, there is increasing speculation that the Bank of Japan may consider ending its negative interest rate policy at its upcoming meeting, spurred by substantial wage increases by major Japanese companies,” said Anderson Alves from ActivTrades.
The Japanese central bank has set a target of 2% inflation. The Bank of Japan will hold a two-day monetary policy meeting next week.
On Wall Street, the S&The P 500 fell 9.96 points, or 0.2%, from its all-time high a day earlier to 5,165.31. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 37.83, or 0.1%, to 39,043.32, coming within 90 points of last month’s record high. The Nasdaq index fell 87.87, or 0.5%, to 16,177.77.
It was also relatively quiet on the bond market, with government bond yields rising higher.
Oil prices have broadly risen so far this year, helping to keep inflation slightly higher than economists expected. That higher inflation has in turn undermined Wall Street’s hopes that the Federal Reserve could provide relief by cutting rates at its meeting next week.
But the expectation is still that the Fed will start cutting rates in June as the longer-term inflation trend appears to remain downward. The Fed’s key interest rate is at its highest level since 2001, and cuts would ease pressure on the economy and financial system. Stock prices have already risen in part on expectations for such cuts.
However, their almost non-stop run since late October has drawn criticism that it was overdone.
On the bond market, the yield on ten-year government bonds rose from 4.15% at the end of Tuesday to 4.18% on Wednesday. It helps set mortgage and loan rates for all kinds of businesses and other borrowers.
The interest rate on two-year government bonds also rose. It is more in line with expectations for the Fed, rising to 4.62% from 4.58% late Tuesday and from 4.20% in early February. Previously, interest rates had fallen on strong expectations of upcoming Fed rate cuts.
In energy trading, U.S. benchmark crude added 11 cents to $79.83 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 14 cents to $84.17 a barrel.
In currency trading, the US dollar rose from 147.74 yen to 147.96 Japanese yen. The euro was at $1.0945, down from $1.0953.
___
AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.