After broad early gains, Asian stock markets started struggling for direction with thin action ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. The Nikkei was struggling to remain positive while Hong Kong’s benchmark gave up initial gains, along with Chinese large caps.
After advancing nearly 0.3% early on, Japan’s Nikkei NIK, -0.02% was last about flat, weighed down by major banks. Mitsubishi UFJ 8306, -3.02% fell 3% while Sumitomo Mitsui 8316, -0.96% was off 1%. On the positive side, beer maker Sapporo Holdings 2501, +7.01% surged 7% .
Hong Kong stocks also turned lower after solid early gains, with Chinese wireless firms early laggards. The Hang Seng Index HSI, -0.23% was last off 0.1%, with China Mobile 0941, -1.72% and Unicom 0762, -1.04% both down some 1.5%. Energy shares were again lower while Tencent 0700, +0.69% gained about 1%.
Chinese large caps turned slightly lower amid weakness in wireless names. The Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, -0.32% was down 0.2%. But the smaller-cap Shenzhen Composite 399106, +0.03% was slightly higher with a number of so-called special-treatment stocks (having lost money in 2016-17) logging limit-up gains to extend this month’s jump.
Malaysia’s benchmark index FBMKLCI, -0.14% lagged as budget airline AirAsia X AAX, -4.17% tumbled after posting its biggest quarterly earnings loss in three years. South Korea’s Kospi SEU, -0.36% fell slightly, while benchmarks in Taiwan Y9999, -0.01% and Singapore STI, -0.04% posted modest gains.
Australia’s ASX 200 XJO, +0.52% rose 0.6% after hitting its worst levels since February 2017 yesterday. New Zealand’s benchmark NZ50GR, +0.35% gained as well.
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