Asian markets ended the Thursday’s trade mostly in green on higher commodity prices and positive cues from Wall Street overnight. Seoul stocks edged higher, led by biotechnology and pharmaceutical shares, after the financial regulator relaxed accounting guidelines for R&D items in listed pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Japanese Nikkei edged slightly in green ahead of August figures for convenience store sales. Bucking the trend, Chinese stocks ended slightly in red on trade concerns after Alibaba’s founder and chairman Jack Ma said the e-commerce giant no longer plans to create one million jobs in the U.S., amid the ongoing trade conflict between the U.S. and China.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2,729.25 | -1.60 | -0.06 |
Hang Seng | 27,477.67 | 70.30 | 0.26 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,931.27 | 57.67 | 0.97 |
KLSE Composite | 1,803.70 | 2.99 | 0.17 |
Nikkei 225 | 23,674.93 | 2.41 | 0.01 |
Straits Times | 3,180.43 | 3.86 | 0.12 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,323.45 | 14.99 | 0.65 |
Taiwan Weighted | 10,831.41 | -25.86 | -0.24 |
