Asia-Pacific stocks struggled for direction as investor exuberance over the prospect of a Covid-19 vaccine faded, while Chinese technology stocks mounted a tentative recovery after tumbling over stricter regulations.
Japan’s Topix index shed 0.1 per cent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3 per cent on Thursday, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.7 per cent and the CSI 300 index of Shanghai- and Shenzhen-listed stocks gained 0.2 per cent.
The uncertainty across regional markets came after the technology-focused Nasdaq Composite index gained 2 per cent on Wall Street, outpacing the broader S&P 500, which closed higher by 0.8 per cent.
US financial stocks, viewed as a bellwether for market expectations of an economic recovery, were among the worst performers on the S&P.
That was a reversal of fortunes from earlier in the week, when equity markets broadly rose on the announcement of success in trials of Pfizer-BioNTech’s experimental Covid-19 vaccine, while tech stocks that had benefited from the shift to working from home sold off.
Chinese tech shares were also recovering, with Alibaba rising about 4 per cent. The ecommerce group led losses during the previous two sessions, which saw big names in the sector lose almost $290bn in market value after the government announced new antitrust rules.
Broad gains were reflected by a 1 per cent rise in the Hang Seng Tech index in Hong Kong and a climb of 1.2 per cent for Shenzhen’s tech-heavy ChiNext.
Futures markets pointed to minor losses for US stocks later in the day, with the S&P 500 set to shed 0.2 per cent when trading begins on Wall Street.