Hong Kong protests, oil, currencies in focus
Shares in Asia Pacific were mixed on Thursday after a decline on Wall Street.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was broken down to 27,294.71 during uncertainty, one day after violent clashes between protesters and riot police over a controversial extradition bill.
"You already have a significant political risk premium embedded in Hong Kong shares because of trading effects going on, and Hong Kong is the gateway to China. So the prospects for China have taken a knock in the last month or so," Binay Chandgothia , CEO and portfolio manager at Principal Global Investors, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Thursday.
"Add to that the possibility that something wrong can happen to the ongoing protests. Then you could see the Hong Kong shares becoming cheaper," says Chandgothia, adding that the valuation levels in the Hong Kong markets are "quite attractive" 1[ads1]9659002] Mainland Chinese stocks were higher in the day, with the Shanghai composite up slightly to 2910.74, and the Shenzhen component increased fractionally to 8,951,61. The Shenzhen composite also advanced 0.247% to 1,532.79.
In other cases, Japan's Nikkei 225 ceased 0.46% to close 21,032.00, as shares of the Apple vendor Japan Display declined 11.94% after the company announced new restructuring plans, with the company's president and CEO set to go down. The index also went down 0.82% to end its trading day at 1.541.50
In Korea, Kospi became 0.27% to close 2,103.15 as chip maker SK Hynix fell 3.35%. completed its trading day in Australia largely fl to 6 542.40.
MSCI's widest index for Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.36%, from noon. 4:11. HK / SIN.
Asia-Pacific Market Indexes Chart
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average pulled 43.68 points to close at 26.004.83 while S & P 500 closed its trading day 0.2% lower to 2,879, 84. Nasdaq Composite delayed, sliding 0.4% to close 7,792.72.
Wednesday's rejection stateside came after the subdued trading action of the previous session. The Dow closed marginally lower on Tuesday, ending a six-day winning knit.
Oil prices fell on Wednesday after data showing an unexpected increase in US commodity stocks for the second consecutive week, due to fears that fuel demand could weaken during the US-China trade battle.
US West Texas Intermediate raw futures cut $ 2.13 to $ 51.15 per barrel, tumbling 4% on the day to a new five-month low. Brent crude, the international reference price for oil prices, fell $ 2.32 or 3.7%, at $ 59.97 a barrel, its first seen below $ 60 since January.
In Asian trading hours on Thursday afternoon, oil prices jumped from previous day's losses on reports of tanker explosions in the Gulf of Oman. US raw futures jumped 2.44% to $ 52.39 a barrel, while Brent increased 2.62% to $ 61.54 a barrel.
The US dollar index, which tracks the dollar against a basket of its counterparts, was 96,934 after rising from levels around 96.6 yesterday.
The Japanese yen changed hands to 108.31 against the dollar after affecting levels above 108.5 earlier. while the Australian dollar traded at $ 0.6913 after grinding from the $ 0.696 handle yesterday.
– CNBC's Fred Imbert and Tom DiChristopher contributed to this report.
