SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific rose in Thursday trade after stocks on Wall Street sailed to record highs as U.S. President Joe Biden was sworn into office.
The Shanghai composite in mainland China rose 1.3% while the Shenzhen component advanced 1.852%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was 0.17% higher.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.95% while the Topix index advanced 0.64%.
The Bank of Japan on Thursday kept monetary policy steady. In a widely expected decision, the Japanese central bank kept its target for short-term interest rates at -0.1% and that for 10-year government bond yields at around 0%.
South Korea’s Kospi advanced 1.01%. Over in India, the BSE Sensex crossed the 50,000 level for the first time on Thursday, with the index last trading about 0.5% higher.
Shares in Australia edged higher, with the S&P/ASX 200 up 0.69%.
Australia’s unemployment rate came in at 6.6% in December, according to seasonally adjusted estimates released by the country’s Bureau of Statistics on Thursday. That compared against expectations for a 6.7% reading in a Reuters poll, and followed November’s unemployment rate 6.8%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.95% higher.
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 90.312 after an earlier high of 90.452.
The Japanese yen traded at 103.46 per dollar, stronger than levels above 103.8 against the greenback seen earlier in the trading week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7768, having risen from levels below $0.77 seen earlier this week.
Oil prices were lower in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures more than 0.3% to $55.89 per barrel. U.S. crude futures shed 0.43% to $53.08 per barrel.
— CNBC’s Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.
Source: CNBC