Asia-Pacific markets opened mixed Thursday, after Wall Street gained on the latest jobs data that raised hopes the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates next week.
Payroll processor ADP reported that private companies cut 32,000 workers in November, compared with 47,000 additions in October, and well below the 40,000 increase expected by economists polled by Dow Jones.
Markets are pricing in an 89% chance of a cut when the Federal Reserve meets on Dec. 9-10, significantly higher than rate-cut bets just a couple of weeks ago, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 0.3% in early trading, and the Topix index advanced 0.33%.
Among the top movers on the Nikkei was Renesas Electronics, which jumped more than 6%, after California-based semiconductor company SiTime Corp was reportedly in talks to acquire the Japanese chipmaker’s timing unit. A deal could value the timing business at up to $2 billion, including debt, Bloomberg said, citing people familiar with the matter.
South Korea’s Kospi index fell 0.45%, while the small-cap Kosdaq climbed 0.12%.
Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 was flat.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index pointed to a higher open, trading at 25,829, against the index’s previous close of 25,760.73.
Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 408.44 points, or 0.86%, to finish at 47,882.90. The S&P 500 traded up 0.30% to end the day at 6,849.72, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.17% to settle at 23,454.09.
Stocks with exposure to the artificial intelligence trade were the biggest drag on U.S. key benchmarks Wednesday stateside, after The Information reported Microsoft was cutting software sales quotas tied to artificial intelligence.
Other major tech names, including Nvidia and Broadcom, pulled the broad-based S&P 500 lower.
Microsoft refuted the claims in the report, which led the stock to recover slightly in after-hours trading.
— CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Pia Singh contributed to this report.
Source: CNBC