Asian stocks mixed after Wall Street rises to record

Asian stocks mixed after Wall Street rises to record

SeattlePI.com

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TOKYO (AP) — Shares were mixed Thursday in Asia after Wall Street recovered to record highs, with the Shanghai benchmark jumping nearly 2% after China's central bank cut interest rates to help ease credit for companies stricken by the virus outbreak centered on the city of Wuhan.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 0.3% to 23,479.15, shedding bigger early gains. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.3% to 7,162.50. and the Shanghai Composite index picked up 0.5% to 2,989.31. But South Korea's Kospi lost 0.7% to 2,195.50. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipped 0.2% to 27,611.67, while India's Sensex edged 0.1% higher to 41,365.80. Shares fell in Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore but rose in Jakarta.

Overnight, U.S. stocks shook off their latest virus-induced losses, breaching new record highs.

Technology stocks led the rally, as Apple rallied to recover most of its loss from the prior day. It dropped Tuesday after warning that revenue this quarter would fall short of forecasts due to the viral outbreak centered in China.

Worries remain about how disruptive the virus will be for manufacturing, travel and other economic activity across the region, but markets around the world rose as the number of new virus cases in China fell Wednesday. Expectations are also high that China and other central banks around the world will limit the economic damage through injections of cash into markets, lower interest rates and other stimulus measures, said Shawn Cruz, manager of trader strategy at TD Ameritrade.

The S&P 500 rose 0.5% to 3,386.15, surpassing its record set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4% to 29,348.03. The Nasdaq climbed 0.9% to 9,817.18 and also set a record.

“I think markets are a little too rosy now,” Cruz said. “There is this assumption that the...

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