HONG KONG — World shares and U.S. futures were mixed Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve held rates steady.
Oil prices fell even as U.S. officials warned that renewed military action against Iran could come after the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
In early European trading, Germany’s DAX gained 0.8 per cent to 25,912.10, while the CAC 40 in Paris jumped 1 per cent to 7,983.15. Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.5 per cent at 10,744.60.
The future for the S&P 500 was 0.4 per cent lower, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4 per cent.
In a big week for central bank news, markets are awaiting the outcome of a meeting of the European Central Bank later Thursday. The Bank of Japan is expected to stand pat when it wraps up its policymaking meeting on Friday.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 climbed 1.1 per cent to 64,659.47. OpenAI investor SoftBank Group’s shares gained 1.8 per cent.
In South Korea, the Kospi lost 1.2 per cent to 5,937.66.
Samsung Electronics, a key component of the Korean market, sank 4.1 per cent despite announcing strong quarterly results as its latest shareholder return policy arrangements disappointed some investors. Memory chipmaker SK Hynix rose 2.6 per cent. Its shares soared 10.9 per cent the day before on the company’s better-than-expected quarterly results.
The Taiex in Taiwan, which has also benefited from the AI boom, declined 1.4 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.6 per cent to 22,958.65. The Shanghai Composite index declined 0.8 per cent to 3,651.43.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.5 per cent to 8,891.80.
India’s Sensex surged 1 per cent.
Earnings reports of U.S. technology giants have shaken markets riding on high expectations from investors due to the global craze for artificial intelligence.
Shares of Google parent company Alphabet Inc. fell about 10 per cent in after-hours trading. The California-based technology giant posted quarterly revenues that disappointed investors, raising questions over whether it can generate enough sales to justify its huge investments in AI.
Shares in Microsoft, however, gained nearly 3 per cent in after-hours trading as it logged better-than-expected earnings results.
On Wednesday, Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 added 0.3 per cent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2 per cent. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite climbed 0.3 per cent.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury eased to around 5.00 per cent after briefly jumping to around 5.04 per cent Wednesday. The yield on the two-year Treasury also steadied to about 4.69 per cent, down from higher than 4.77 per cent on Wednesday.
In other dealings early Thursday, Brent crude oil, the international standard, fell 0.8 per cent to US$110.77 per barrel. That’s still way higher than the roughly $72 a barrel level it was at before the Iran war began in late February.
Benchmark U.S. crude fell 1.1 per cent to $101.67 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar gained slightly to 157.86 Japanese yen from 157.84 yen. The euro rose to $1.1155 from $1.1154.
Chan Ho-him, The Associated Press
