Asian equity markets ended mostly in green on Thursday, even after the Dow Jones Industrial Average broke its seven-day winning streak overnight and oil prices retreated on bearish inventory data from the US Energy Information Administration. Investors also looked ahead to Fed Chair Janet Yellen's speech later in the day for clues as to the direction of US interest rates. Chinese shares ended higher after official data showed China's foreign direct investment grew in the first ten months of the year. FDI rose an annual 4.2 percent to reach CNY 666.3 billion or around $97 billion in the January-October period. Japanese stocks ended marginally higher as stocks were bought after the central bank's first fixed-rate debt purchasing operation weakened the yen.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,208.45 | 3.40 | 0.11 |
Hang Seng | 22,262.88 | -17.65 | -0.08 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,193.02 | 7.55 | 0.15 |
KLSE Composite | 1,626.77 | -0.86 | -0.05 |
Nikkei 225 | 17,862.63 | 0.42 | -- |
Straits Times | 2,813.48 | 19.49 | 0.70 |
KOSPI Composite | 1,980.55 | 0.90 | 0.05 |
Taiwan Weighted | 8,995.26 | 33.04 | 0.37 |