HONG KONG (AP) — Asian shares were mixed on Thursday after Wall Street’s strong start to the year cooled.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1% to 51,660.50 in early trading, with technology stocks among those leading the decline. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.6% to 4,576.95. Both reached all-time high levels earlier this week.
Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng lost 1.2% to 26,136.49, although shares of OpenAI’s Chinese rival Zhipu opened 3.3% higher in its trading debut.
The Shanghai Composite index rose nearly 0.1% to 4,089.45.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.2% to 8,712.90, while Taiwan’s Taiex also picked up 0.2%.
Wall Street’s optimism for the start of the year faded Wednesday, in part after some stocks were hit by fresh comments from President Donald Trump that could bar large investors from buying single-family homes.
The S&P 500 fell 0.3% from an all-time high to 6,920.93. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.9% to 48,996.08. The Nasdaq composite added 0.2% to 23,584.27.
Trump said on his social media network Wednesday that he would move to block large institutional investors from buying single-family homes — in an attempt to address the country’s housing affordability issue. Homebuilders fell sharply. D.R. Horton shed 3.6% and PulteGroup dropped 3.2%.
Warner Bros. Discovery on Wednesday rejected a revised buyout bid from Paramount, as it told its shareholders to stick with Netflix’s offer. Warner Bros. Discovery rose 0.4%, Netflix added 0.1% while Paramount Skydance fell 1%.
Oil prices rose on Thursday after the U.S. seized two oil tankers as Trump’s administration sought to assert control over Venezuelan oil. That also followed Trump’s earlier remarks that Venezuela would provide 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S.
Benchmark U.S. crude rose 0.2% to $56.22 per barrel. Brent crude rose 0.3% to $60.22 per barrel.
Oil prices have been volatile this week, as markets assess risks after the U.S. ousted Nicolás Maduro as Venezuela’s president. Venezuela has some of the world’s largest oil reserves.
In bond markets, U.S. Treasury yields swung following mixed reports on the U.S. economy. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.14% from 4.18%, and the two-year yield held at 3.46%.
One report reflected a more substantial pick up in U.S. services sector activity in December than what economists expected. But separate reports on the U.S. job market offered a mixed view. One suggested that businesses and government agencies posted far fewer job openings in November compared with the month before. Another report said businesses added 41,000 jobs in December.
The U.S. Labor Department is expected to release its monthly job report for December on Friday, which could offer a more comprehensive look.
In other dealings early Thursday, the dollar fell to 156.66 yen, down from 156.77 yen.
The euro rose to $1.1683 from $1.1677.
___
AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.
