Asian stock markets traded in mixed territory on Thursday after Wall Street posted modest losses, while oil prices also pulled back.
U.S. futures climbed in early dealings following Nvidia’s latest quarterly earnings report, which surpassed Wall Street expectations as demand for its advanced artificial intelligence chips continued to surge.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.2% to 66,162.72. SoftBank Group, a multinational investment holding firm that backs OpenAI, edged up 0.1%.
South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.5% to 6,909.81, with market heavyweight Samsung Electronics advancing 2%.
Japan and South Korea have been among the biggest beneficiaries of the global AI frenzy, alongside Taiwan. Taiwan’s benchmark Taiex index added 0.5%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.4% to 25,548.83. The Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.6% to 3,935.99.
China reported that growth in industrial profits slowed in July to 11.2%, down from 15.1% in June.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was 0.9% lower at 9,041.70.
India’s Sensex edged down 0.1%.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 on Wall Street fell less than 0.1%, though it remained near its record high levels. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2%, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite dipped 0.1%.
Nvidia, one of the world’s most valuable companies, reported after markets closed Wednesday that its revenue for the May-July quarter more than doubled from a year earlier.
The chipmaker’s earnings results are widely viewed as a bellwether for the broader AI and chips industry. Heavy investments by tech giants in AI have sparked concerns among investors over a potential AI bubble, with worry that the companies may not generate enough profits within an expected timeframe to justify rising costs.
Separately, Meta Platforms added 1.1% after agreeing to pay up to $18 billion and to add child-safety measures to Facebook and Instagram, ending a landmark trial over teen social media addiction and settling claims filed by states across the country.
Data released Wednesday showed the U.S. economy grew at a 1.5% pace in the April-June period, according to a revised estimate.
The inflation measure the Federal Reserve has historically preferred to use sat at 3.7% last month, unchanged from June’s rate. That came in slightly worse than the 3.6% economists had expected, according to FactSet, and far above the Fed’s 2% goal.
In early Thursday dealings, Brent crude, the international standard, lost 0.5% to $86.49 per barrel. It had been trading at around $72 a barrel in late February before the war in Iran began.
Benchmark U.S. crude fell 0.5% to $81.84 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 159.38 Japanese yen from 159.31 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1655, up from $1.1651.