World stocks are mixed as Japan's Nikkei falls ahead of weekend election

[October 25, 2024]  By ZIMO ZHONG

HONG KONG (AP) — European markets opened lower on Friday while Asian stocks mostly advanced. Japan's benchmark declined as investors awaited the outcome of an election on Sunday.

Germany’s DAX dropped 0.1% at 19,417.91. In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.4% to 7,473.20. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged 0.1% lower to 8,258.16. The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both went up by 0.1%.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who took office just weeks ago, called the snap general election to drum up support as the ruling Liberal Democrats grapple with a political funding scandal. For once, the LDP could be facing a major setback that could bring some changes to the economic outlook, analysts said.

“Polls suggest that Japan's ruling party, the LDP, could lose its Lower House majority on Sunday for the first time since its brief stint out of power ended in 2012,” Mark Williams of Capital Economics said in a commentary.

If the ruling party fails to secure enough support for a ruling coalition with the Komeito, its longtime partner, “things would look different,” he said.

The recent political shifts have added to uncertainty for markets, complicating the Bank of Japan's efforts to shift away from long-standing near-zero interest rates.

Core inflation in Japan’s capital was 1.8% in October, lower than the central bank’s 2% target for the first time in five months, the government reported. That reinforced expectations that the central bank will keep its key interest rate unchanged at a policy meeting next week.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index lost 0.6% to 37,913.92, while the Japanese yen fell against the U.S. dollar. On Friday, the dollar was trading at 151.99 yen, up from 151.89 yen.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.5% to 20,590.15, and the Shanghai Composite gained 0.6% to 3,299.70.

China’s central bank kept its medium-term lending rate unchanged at 2%. It also issued 700 billion yuan ($98.3 billion) in one-year medium-term lending facility loans to financial institutions, according to the bank’s statement.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea’s Kospi edged up 0.1% to 2,583.27 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed less than 0.1% to 8,211.30. Taiwan’s Taiex increased 0.7%.

A currency trader reads documents at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.2%, breaking its first three-day losing streak since early September. It bounced between losses and gains through the day, and it was roughly evenly split between stocks rising and falling.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.8%.

Tesla led the market with a jump of 21.9% after the electric-vehicle maker reported better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. An optimistic CEO Elon Musk also predicted 20%-30% sales growth next year, though revenue for the latest quarter fell short of analysts’ forecasts. It was the best day for Tesla’s stock since 2013.

Boeing sank 1.2% after its machinists voted to continue their strike, which has crippled aircraft production. More than 60% of union members who voted on the proposed contract rejected it, keeping them on the picket lines six weeks into their strike.

Stocks have broadly retreated this week after the S&P 500 and Dow both set records at the end of last week. They’ve been hurt by rising Treasury yields in the bond market, which can make investors less willing to pay high prices for stocks. Critics had already been saying beforehand that stocks looked too expensive given how much faster their prices have risen than corporate profits.

A report on unemployment claims Thursday offered a mixed picture on the job market. It said fewer workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, which can be a signal of relatively low layoffs. But it also said the total number of those collecting benefits rose to its highest level in almost three years.

In other dealings early Friday, benchmark U.S. crude picked up 7 cents to $70.26 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 6 cents to $74.09 a barrel.

The euro fell to $1.0825 from $1.0828.

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