Asian stocks mixed after Fed, regional data; Nikkei up 0.09%

Asian stocks were mixed during Thursday’s session amid a spate of regional data points and a lackluster response by U.S. stocks to commentary out of the Federal Reserve Wednesday. 

In Asian trading Thursday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.09% after the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare said that Japan’s average cash earnings rose 0.1% in the third quarter following 0.9% drop in the prior quarter. The second-quarter reading was revised down from a drop 0.6%. Analysts expected a third-quarter drop of 0.5%. 

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.40% while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.68% despite the People’s Bank of China buying USD2.6 billion worth of 14-day reverse-repo contracts to add liquidity into the Chinese financial system. 

That was not enough to keep investors from evaluating Chinese banks on the basis of their rising amount of bad loans. 

Australia’s S&P/ASX was steady after the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that Australian building approvals rose 14.4% last week after falling 1.6% in the previous week. Analysts expected the number to rise 2.7% last week. The prior week’s reading was revised up from a drop of 4.7%. 

In a separate report, the Reserve Bank of Australia said Australian private sector credit rose 0.3% in September, the same increase seen in August. Analysts expected a September increase of 0.4%. 

The Statistics Bureau also Australia’s import producer prices jumped 6.1% last month after falling 0.3% in August. Analysts expected a September rise 0.4%. 

New Zealand’s NZSE 50 jumped 0.86% after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand left rates unchanged at a record low of 2.5%. 

"Sustained strength in the exchange rate that leads to lower inflationary pressure would provide the bank with greater flexibility as to the timing and magnitude of future increases in the OCR," said RBNZ Governor Graeme Wheeler in a statement released earlier in the session. 

South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.73%. Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.12% after the Singapore Ministry of Manpower said that Singaporean unemployment fell to 1.8% in the third quarter from 2.8% in the second quarter. Analysts expected the third-quarter reading to be unchanged at 2.1%. 

S&P 500 futures fell 0.39%.