Asian shares traded mostly higher on Thursday, buoyed by a successful Wall Street rally that came on the back of encouraging quarterly profit reports from several major companies. In Tokyo, Japan’s Nikkei 225 inched up by nearly 0.2% during early trading, while other regional indices such as Australia’s S&P/ASX 200, South Korea’s Kospi, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, and the Shanghai Composite also posted gains.
In Japan, Honda Motor Co.’s stock, which had spiked the previous day due to media speculations regarding its talks with Nissan Motor Corp. about forming a joint holding company, saw some of those gains erased. Concurrently, Nissan’s shares recovered, although there was no immediate confirmation regarding the reported talks from either company. Meanwhile, on Wall Street, all prominent indices, including the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the Nasdaq composite, recorded modest gains.
Corporate earnings provided further momentum with toymaker Mattel seeing its shares surge by 15.3% after surpassing profit expectations, driven particularly by strong performance from its Hot Wheels brand coming off the back of softer sales from other lines. Amgen also saw its stock rally by 6.5% due to better-than-expected profits, bolstered in part by the performance of its Repatha medicine aimed at lowering cholesterol and reducing heart attack risk.
Conversely, Alphabet’s shares dropped, despite reporting stronger quarterly profits than anticipated, as investors reacted to concerns about slower revenue growth within its cloud division and a significantly increased investment budget aimed at artificial intelligence development. Similarly, Advanced Micro Devices experienced a decline of 6.3% even after beating earnings forecasts, with analysts questioning the lack of detailed guidance from CEO Lisa Su on future AI offerings.
Tariff uncertainties also remained a central concern in global markets. Recent reprieves for tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods provided some relief, suggesting that tariffs may be used as a negotiating tool rather than a fixed long-term policy. However, ongoing pushes for tariffs on Chinese goods and potential measures affecting European automobiles continue to fuel speculation about inflationary pressures and their impact on the Federal Reserve’s ability to reduce interest rates.
Bond markets also reflected caution, with yields falling after reports indicated weaker growth in sectors like mining, finance, and U.S. services, a trend partly attributed to adverse weather conditions. Overall, energy and currency markets showed minor adjustments, with U.S. crude oil and Brent crude recording small increases and the U.S. dollar experiencing slight downward pressure against other major currencies.