By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Asia Pacific stocks were mostly up on Thursday morning, getting a small boost as its U.S. counterparts hit another record close as volumes remained light in the last few trading days of 2021.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 inched down 0.09% by 9:06 PM ET (2:06 AM GMT) while South Korea’s KOSPI inched up 0.07%.
In Australia, the ASX 200 edged down 0.12%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was up 0.44%, with SenseTime Group Inc. making its debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.52% while the Shenzhen Component edged up 0.17%. The country’s debt-ridden property sector is in the spotlight, with some holders of two China Evergrande Group (HK:3333) dollar bonds with coupons due on Tuesday saying they had yet to receive payment.
Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) Group Holding Ltd. (HK:9988) Is also in talks over a possible divestment of its stake in Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) Corp. (HK:9898) to a state-owned Chinese conglomerate.
In the U.S., the S&P 500 hit its 70th record close of the year on Wednesday, while the Nasdaq 100 was little changed. The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield climbed above its 50-day moving average for the first time in about a month. In Australia, the 10-year bond yield jumped 10 basis points.
With only a few days left in 2021, investors are calculating the implications of the omicron COVID-19 variant, central banks’ withdrawal of monetary stimulus, and high inflation fueled by supply-chain bottlenecks. Some key questions that remain to be answered include whether U.S. Treasury yields will continue their upward trend and how much impetus is left in the equity bull market.
“Despite global surges in COVID-19 cases, the markets are reflecting the new reality that the virus is here to stay albeit more on our terms than its,” Bel Air Investment Advisors managing director Kevin Philip told Bloomberg.
In 2022, “we are facing less of a COVID-19-influenced world, and a return toward normalcy,” he added.
In China, authorities continue efforts to curb the COVID-19 outbreak in the western city of Xi’an, with Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU). Warning that output of some computer memory will be hit as the city remains under lockdown.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden is planning to speak to Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin by phone on Thursday, as concerns rise about the Russian troop buildup on its border with Ukraine.