Asian shares down on caution after modest US gains

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares fell Thursday as caution set in over company earnings reports, recent choppy trading in technology stocks and prospects for more economic stimulus for a world battling a pandemic.

Japan's Nikkei 225 slipped 1.0% to 28,360.42, while South Korea's Kospi dropped 1.4% to 3,086.72. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.9% to 6,765.50. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.9% to 29,048.31, while the Shanghai Composite was down 0.3% to 3,506.75.

Also on market players’ minds is the global vaccine rollout, which is becoming more organized in the U.S., but has yet to play out in much of Asia, except for China, where the pandemic started.

“As the rally waned for the U.S. market, Asia markets can be seen left to their own devices into the Thursday session, and it appears that investors may be locking in some of the recent gains,” said Jingyi Pan, a senior market strategist for IG in Singapore.

Wall Street ended with modest gains, with the S&P 500 inched up 3.86 points, or 0.1%, to 3,830.17, after swinging between a gain of 0.6% and a loss of 0.3%. The tiny gain extended the benchmark index's winning streak to a third day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 36.12 points, or 0.1%, to 30,723.60. The tech-heavy Nasdaq slipped 2.23 points, or less than 0.1%, to 13,610.54. The index had briefly been above its all-time high set last week.

Smaller companies fared better than the broader market. The Russell 2000 small-caps index rose 8.26 points, or 0.4%, to 2,159.70. The index is up 9.4% this year, while the S&P 500 is up about 2% and the Nasdaq is up 5.6%.

Energy, communications and financial stocks helped lift the market. Those gains were primarily kept in check by declines in companies that rely on consumer spending and technology stocks.

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