Tokyo markets higher in mixed Asia-Pacific trade

Equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed on Thursday. In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 and the Sydney Ordinaries each added 0.56 percent, to 5,650.3 and 5,697 respectively, while in South Korea the Kospi added 2.24 percent to 1,624.68. Tokyo’s markets were higher on the session. The Nikkei 225 added 1.85 percent to 13,592.47 while the Topix index was 1.98 percent higher to 1,346.31 and the Mothers market gained 0.89 percent to 653.18. Among decliners in the region, the Taiex fell 0.3 percent to 7,521.13. The FTSE Straits Times index was down 0.61 percent to 2,981.75 while India’s Sensex was 0.62 percent lower to 17,648.71. The Shanghai Composite fell 0.78 percent to 4,383.39 and the Hang Seng dropped 0.84 percent to 23,455.39.

Europe’s markets were mixed. The pan-European FTSE Eurofirst 300 added 0.13 percent to 1,331.12 as Madrid’s IBEX was up 0.09 percent to 13,229, but the Paris CAC-40 was down 0.08 percent to 4,869.79 and the Dax dropped 0.34 percent to 6,851.75. In London, the FTSE 100 added 0.73 percent to 5,879.8 but the FTSE 250 fell 0.28 percent to 9,881.

Wall Street saw gains in afternoon trade after the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 190 points earlier in the day. The Dow was 1.11 percent higher to 12,581.43 while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.82 percent to 2,368.16 and the S&P 500 gained 0.86 percent to 1,367.52.

Oil prices were lower on the session while grains prices were mixed and both precious and base metals prices saw gains.

The US dollar gained on the euro while the South African rand was lower against all major currencies. The yen posted a gain of 4.8 percent versus the greenback in the month.

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