Asia Markets Quiet Ahead of Lunar New Year Holiday
14 February 2018 - 01:11PM
Dow Jones News
By Kenan Machado
Asia-Pacific stocks were mixed early Wednesday following slight
gains in the U.S. overnight.
Indexes in the region, excluding those in New Zealand and South
Korea, were within 0.3% of Tuesday's finishes. The Kospi rose
nearly 1% as Samsung Electronics rebounded 2.7%. That put the
week's gain at 9%, which erased most of the month's decline.
New Zealand's NZX 50 fell 0.5% as Fletcher Building slumped 12%
to a two-year low after it revealed additional losses at its
building-and-interiors division. The company's shares were halted
for nearly a week after Fletcher said Thursday it expected more red
ink for the segment.
The S&P 500's trading range on Tuesday, which was within the
levels that the index moved on Monday, indicates "overall caution"
among investors, said Ric Spooner, chief market strategist at CMC
Markets.
Japanese stocks were lower early Wednesday. The Nikkei was
recently down 0.3% as the U.S. dollar was around Yen107.70, versus
Yen108.30 at the end of stock trading Tuesday.
Ahead of the open, Japan said its fourth-quarter economic growth
was less than analysts expected. But the economy has grown for
eight straight quarters, the longest run in 28 years.
"GDP growth slowed sharply last quarter and we think that the
economy won't expand as strongly this year as it did in 2017," said
Marcel Thieliant at Capital Economics.
Trading in the region will slow as the Lunar New Year holiday
approaches. Taiwan's stock market closed yesterday and China will
join it Thursday. Others in Asia will only see a half-day of
trading on Thursday before being shut Friday.
U.S. consumer inflation data is due to be released later
Wednesday.
Write to Kenan Machado at kenan.machado@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 13, 2018 20:56 ET (01:56 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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