Asian shares combined after retreat on Wall Avenue – KIRO 7 Information Seattle

BANGKOK – (AP) – Stocks were mixed in Asia on Thursday after benchmarks closed broadly lower on a third day of pullback on Wall Street.

The price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies continued to decline. Shares rose in Tokyo and Sydney but fell in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

The Japanese government reported that in April exports were up 38% yoy, while imports were up nearly 13%, indicating a recovery in overseas demand despite the country weathering its worst coronavirus outbreak to date .

Exports to the US rose 45%, while exports to China rose nearly 34% after last year’s shocks due to lockdowns and other precautionary measures to contain the pandemic.

The Nikkei 225 regained ground, climbing 0.2% to 28,067.53, while Sydney’s S & P / ASX 200 was up 0.9% to 6,993.90. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng slipped 0.7% to 28,381.13, while the Kospi in Seoul fell 0.5% to 3,157.70. Shares rose in Singapore and Jakarta but fell in Taiwan.

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 index fell 0.3% to 4,115.68 after recovering from a 1.6% decline earlier in the day. The benchmark index is on track for its second consecutive weekly loss.

Bank stocks were among the biggest declines. Goldman Sachs was down 1.7% and Wells Fargo was down 1.5%. Retailers and other businesses that rely directly on consumer spending have also depressed the market. Home Depot was down 0.7%, Gap was down 3% and L Brands was down 3.1%.

Energy stocks, which made the biggest gains so far this year, posted the biggest losses as the price of US crude oil slipped 3.5%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5% to 33,896.04. The Nasdaq outperformed the rest of the market, losing less than 0.1% to 13,299.74.

Smaller company stocks also lost ground. The Russell 2000 Index lost 0.8% to 2,193.64.

Digital currencies fell sharply after the Chinese Banking Association warned of the risks associated with digital currencies on Wednesday.

Bitcoin’s price fell 6.2% to $ 38,140, ​​well below the all-time high of over $ 64,800 a month ago, according to crypto news site Coindesk. It swung a huge range from just $ 30,202 to as high as $ 43,621 throughout the day.

That the headline from China rocked crypto investors suggests the market was already weak, said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at All Star Charts.

“If Bitcoin had held up better, such a heading would be more easily discarded, but it comes at a time when Bitcoin was already far from its highs,” he said. “There were people looking for a reason to sell cover.”

The bitcoin skid comes after longtime bitcoin advocate Tesla recently announced that it would no longer accept bitcoin as a means of payment on its cars and reversed its previous position.

Sales were so intense that the website of Coinbase, an online digital currency broker, was temporarily unavailable that morning. Coinbase’s stock fell 5.9%, down roughly 34% from its April 16 high, just two days after going public.

Investors continue to focus on whether rising inflation is temporary or persistent. Prices for everything from gasoline to groceries are rising as the economy recovers from more than a year of malaise.

It is feared that the Federal Reserve will have to recall its full support if inflation persists. These include record-low interest rates and $ 120 billion worth of bond purchases each month, designed to boost the job market and economy.

The central bank’s April policymakers’ minutes, released Wednesday afternoon, reiterated the view that the Fed’s decision to keep interest rates at an extremely low level remains the best policy approach, despite some officials on it advised that some factors could potentially drive inflation higher than they could be resolved quickly.

Government bond yields rose for the most part. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.66% from 1.67% late Wednesday.

In the other trade, US benchmark crude increased electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by 11 cents to $ 63.46 a barrel. On Wednesday it fell $ 2.50 to $ 63.35 a barrel. Brent crude, the international price standard, rose 9 cents to $ 66.75 a barrel.

The dollar fell from 109.23 yen to 109.14 Japanese yen on Wednesday. The euro rose from $ 1.2174 to $ 1.2185.

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AP Business authors Alex Veiga and Damian J. Troise contributed to this.