SINGAPORE – Shares in the Asia-Pacific will be mixed on Thursday after the S&P 500 rose to a record overnight.
Futures point to a mixed start for Japanese equities. The Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 29,705, while its counterpart in Osaka was at 29,660. That compares to the Nikkei 225’s last close at 29,730.79.
Shares in Australia would rise higher, with the SPI futures contract at 6,935 compared to the S & P / ASX 200’s last close at 6,928.
Overnight on the outside, the S&P 500 rose 0.15% to a new high of 4,079.95. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 16.02 points to close its trading day at 33,446.26, while the Nasdaq Composite closed about 0.1% lower at 13,688.84.
The move on Wall Street took place when the US Federal Reserve released minutes of its March meeting, during which it kept its accommodation policy in place. The summary of the meeting indicated that although officials see that the economy is growing significantly, they need much more progress before ultra-easy policy changes take place.
Currencies
The US dollar index, which follows the rate behind a basket of its peers, was at 92,455 after falling below 92.8 earlier in the week.
The Japanese yen traded at 109.85 per dollar, stronger than levels above 110.5 against the dollar seen earlier in the week. The Australian dollar changed hands from $ 0.7608, after falling above $ 0.764 yesterday.
– Jeff Cox, CNBC, contributed to this report.