SINGAPORE — Stocks in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Thursday trade as investors continue to monitor the situation surrounding Ukraine.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan declined 0.36% in morning trade while the Topix index shed 0.42%.
Japan’s January exports came in far below expectations, with official data released Thursday showing a 9.6% year-on-year rise for that month. That was against expectations by economists for a 16.5% gain, according to Reuters.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.02%.
Shares in Australia rose in morning trade, with the S&P/ASX 200 up 0.67%.
Australia added 12,900 jobs for January, data released Thursday showed. That was above market forecasts for a flat outcome, according to Reuters.
The country’s unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%, according to figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in line with expectations from a Reuters poll.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.22% higher.
In geopolitical developments, NATO on Wednesday accused Russia of increasing the number of troops it has gathered at the Ukrainian border, a day after Moscow claimed it had begun withdrawing some of its military units.
A senior Biden administration official told reporters that as many as 7,000 troops have joined the 150,000 already near the border in recent days, according to a NBC News report.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 54.57 points to 34,934.27 while the S&P 500 rose fractionally to 4,475.01. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.11% to about 14,124.10.
Currencies
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 95.795 following a recent decline from above 96.
The Japanese yen traded at 115.44 per dollar, stronger than levels above 115.6 seen against the greenback yesterday. The Australian dollar was at $0.7195, continuing its general upward trek since a bounce from below $0.71 earlier this week.
Source: CNBC