Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed on Thursday. Investors also monitored Hong Kong-listed shares of firms related to the Chinese video game sector after China’s state media once again took aim at the industry.
By Thursday’s market close in Asia, Hong Kong, shares of Tencent in the city slipped 3.9% while Netease dropped 3.76%. The Hang Seng Tech index declined 2.1% to 6,715.33.
The Securities Times, a publication under the Chinese Communist Party’s official newspaper People’s Daily, published an article on Thursday arguing that gaming firms should not have preferential tax measures that were introduced to encourage the development of the domestic software sector — as the gaming industry is more developed now.
It said that gaming should share the same tax policies as other industries, and warned that the industry should be “mentally prepared for this.”
Shares of Tencent and Netease tanked earlier this week after Chinese state media branded online gaming “opium” in an article that was deleted a few hours after publication and later republished with a new headline and removal of the reference to the word.
Hong Kong’s broader Hang Seng index closed 0.84% lower at 26,204.69.
The Shanghai Composite in mainland China fell 0.31% to close at 3,466.55 while the Shenzhen component shed 0.786% on the day to about 14,872.23.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.52% to close at 27,728.12 while the Topix index advanced 0.39% to finish the trading day at 1,928.98. South Korea’s Kospi closed 0.13% lower at 3,276.13.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.11% to close at 7,511.10. Australia recorded a trade surplus of around 10.5 billion Australian dollars (about $7.75 billion) in July, according to data released by the country’s Bureau of Statistics on Thursday. That was above forecasts for a 10.45 billion Australian dollar trade surplus, according to a Reuters poll.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.3%.
The Covid situation in China may have weighed on investor sentiment regionally. Daily infections have been rising again in the country as the delta variant spreads across China, with authorities imposing mass testing and widespread travel restrictions in some areas.
Elsewhere, South Korean news agency Yonhap News reported Thursday that the toughest restrictions in the greater Seoul area are “highly likely to be extended again” as cases remain persistently high.
Overnight stateside, the Dow dropped 323.73 points to 34,792.67 while the S&P 500 slipped 0.46% to 4,402.66. The Nasdaq Composite outperformed as it rose 0.13% to 14,780.53.
The moves on Wall Street came after jobs data from payroll processing firm ADP came in well below expectations. The ADP private payroll survey showed a gain of 330,000 jobs for July, well below the consensus estimate of 653,000. The more closely watched Labor Department nonfarm payrolls release is set to be out on Friday.
Asian Markets Currencies & Oil
On Asian markets, the U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 92.203 following a recent bounce from below 92.
The Japanese yen traded at 109.58 per dollar following a weakening yesterday from levels below 109 against the greenback. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.74, still higher than levels below $0.735 seen earlier in the trading week.
Oil prices were lower in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures declining 0.13% to $70.29 per barrel. U.S. crude futures dipped 0.12% to $68.07 per barrel.
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