Stock market today: Asian shares mixed after AI hopes nudge Wall St to records. BOJ stands pat
Asian shares are mixed after Wall Street’s continued frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology nudged indexes on Wall Street to more records
TOKYO — Asian shares were mixed Friday after Wall Street’s continued frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology nudged indexes on Wall Street to more records.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 0.4% to 38,868.94 after the Bank of Japan kept its monetary policy intact, though it did say it intends to begin reducing its government bond purchases as it eases itself out of its ultra-lax stance.
“Even if the BOJ wants to convey that the direction of travel is for tightening, the key guiding principle is gradualism,” Tan Jing Yi at Mizuho Bank said in a commentary. “Fact is, underlying economic confidence is at best fragile if not fraught.”
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3% to 7,724.80. South Korea's Kospi edged up 0.3% to 2,763.24. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.6% to 18,004.71, while the Shanghai Composite fell 0.1% to 3,025.39.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 added 0.2% to its all-time high set the day before, closing at 5,433.74, even though the majority of its stocks weakened. The Nasdaq composite climbed 0.3% from its own record, ending at 17,667.56, thanks to gains for technology stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% to 38,647.10.
Treasury yields eased again in the bond market as traders grew convinced that inflation is slowing enough to get the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates later this year.
The latest update on inflation showed prices paid at the wholesale level weren’t as bad as economists expected. They actually dropped from April into May, when economists were forecasting a rise.
That followed a surprising update from Wednesday that showed
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