Stock market today: Asian shares mixed as Chinese tech stocks rise, India cuts interest rate

[February 07, 2025]  By ZEN SOO

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian shares Friday were mixed, with Chinese technology stocks rising as most other Asian equities declined as the market weighed India's interest rate cut and an increase in Japan's household spending.

The Reserve Bank of India on Friday cut its key interest rate for the first time in almost five years, as the government sought to boost growth and inflation eased.

India’s benchmark stock indexes the Nifty 50 fell 0.11% to 23,577.60, while the Sensex fell 0.23% to 77,897.69. The Indian rupee strengthened to 87.4 against the U.S. dollar.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 dipped nearly 0.72% in afternoon trading to 38,787.02. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slid just 0.11% to 8,511.40. South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.58% to 2,521.92. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.91% to 21,081.72, while the Shanghai Composite was up 1.01% to 3,303.67.

Chinese technology stocks trading in Hong Kong appear poised to enter a bull market after AI models released by DeepSeek sparked renewed interest in China’s technology firms.

Xiaomi’s Hong Kong stock closed up 4.69% Friday to trade at 42.45 Hong Kong dollars, while Alibaba stock jumped 1.47% to trade at 100 Hong Kong dollars. Tencent, China’s largest video game firm, jumped 1.86% to 428.20 Hong Kong dollars.

Japan’s Nikkei index may come under greater pressure from a stronger yen, with a sharp 2.7% rise in January household spending reinforcing expectations for further rate hikes from the Bank of Japan, according to Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist at IG.

“Along with both headline and core inflation accelerating over the past two months, the case for further policy responses to curb pricing pressures remains strong,” said Yeap.

In early European trading, France’s CAC 40 was down 0.06%, while Germany’s DAX gained 0.09%. Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.15%.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.36%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.28% and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.51% on Thursday.

A currency trader walks by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

On Wall Street, markets are waiting for January's jobs report that will be released Friday morning in the U.S. Analysts estimate that jobs growth will come in at about 170,000, down from 256,000 jobs in December, while unemployment remains at 4.1%.

“The biggest driver for FX should be US payroll figures for January,” said Frantisek Taborsky, an FX strategist at ING Economics.

“Last year’s provisional revisions indicated that, upon cross-referencing with tax data, the Bureau of Labor Statistics had overestimated job creation by approximately one-third,” Taborsky said, adding that the substantial revisions in data are expected and will likely negatively affect the dollar.

Investors are also bracing for the uncertainty that comes with U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs. After signing executive orders to levy 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada, fears of a global trade war have eased slightly after Trump gave both countries a 30-day reprieves for tariffs, raising hopes that tariffs are likely to be a negotiation tool rather than the Trump administration’s long-term policy.

However, Trump has pressed ahead with 10% tariffs on Chinese goods, while China has retaliated by imposing tariffs on U.S. coal and liquefied natural gas products as well as crude oil, agriculture machinery and large-engine cars. China also launched an antitrust investigation into Google and placed two other firms on its unreliable entity list.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude added 52 cents to $71.13 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 66 cents to $74.95 a barrel.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar inched up to 151.81 Japanese yen from 151.35 yen. The euro rose slightly to $1.0393, up from $1.0383.

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