People watch the first sunrise of the new year from a footbridge overlooking the city skyline in Seoul on January 1, 2024.
Jung Yeon-je | Afp | Getty Images
Japan’s Nikkei 225 notched a fresh record Thursday at 45,754.93, marking six consecutive sessions of gains.
The broad based Topix also closed at a new high of 3,185.35.
Other Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed Thursday, breaking ranks with Wall Street after investors continued selling tech names like Nvidia and Oracle for a second straight day.
Nvidia slid almost 1%, continuing its declines from Tuesday as heightened fears about the potentially circular nature of the AI industry drew investor skepticism.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.7%. Shares of Chery rose 11% to 34.16 Hong Kong dollars ($4.39) at its debut on the index Thursday, compared with its offer price of HK$30.75. The stock later gave up some of its gains, falling to about HK$31.86.
Separately, Xiaomi shares gained 4.83% after debuting a slew of new devices and appliances, including smartphones to take on South Korea’s Samsung.
On the mainland, China’s CSI 300 advanced 0.66%.
South Korea’s Kospi ended just below the flatline at 3,471.1, while the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.98% to close at 852.48.
Internet firm Naver was one of the leaders on the Kospi, gaining 11.4% after it announced an investment into health startup GravityLabs early Thursday.
Taiwan’s Taiex retreated 0.66%, with heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company down 1.49%. This comes after Bloomberg reported that chip giant Intel is seeking an investment from Apple.
Apple had previously used Intel chips in many of its personal computing devices, but switched to TSMC when it launched its M1 chip in 2020. The report however, said that Apple is unlikely to shift back to Intel chips.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 reversed earlier losses and added 0.1%, ending at 8,773.
U.S. stock futures were little changed as investors awaited Thursday’s release of weekly jobless claims data, which could influence the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy moves amid increasing concerns about a weakening labor market and rising layoffs.
Overnight in the U.S., the S&P 500 dropped 0.28% to end at 6,637.97, while the Nasdaq Composite pulled back 0.34% to settle at 22,497.86.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.37%, to finish at 46,121.28.
—CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Pia Singh contributed to this report.
