Asian markets trade with modest gains

Asia Pacific markets traded up on Thursday, likely taking cues from Wall Street, where stocks gained overnight after strong quarterly results lifted investor sentiment.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 traded up 0.36% while the Topix index added 0.18%. Japanese manufacturing activity shrank for a fourth straight month in August as export orders fell at a sharper pace, Reuters reported citing a preliminary business survey.

South Korea’s Kospi index slipped 0.25% in early trade while Australia’s ASX 200 gained 0.38%.

“The hot and cold vibes in the equity markets continue with gains in the overnight session effectively reversing the losses recorded the previous day,” Rodrigo Catril, senior foreign exchange strategist at the National Australia Bank, said in an early morning note.

Markets had a relatively modest reaction overnight after the Fed released minutes of its last meeting in July, where the U.S. central bank lowered the benchmark rate by 25 basis points.

Still, fears of recession lingered in the market as the spread between the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note and that of the 2-year note turned negative for the second time in one week.

Source: CNBC

Read more:

• USA ADP Nonfarm Employment Change: 202K vs 160K
• Iran response was ‘too fast and too furious’ on the U.S. airstrike
• USA – ISM Non-manufacturing PMI: 55.0 vs 54.5
• Top 5 things to watch on Tuesday
• Noise: How to Overcome the High, Hidden Cost of Inconsistent Decision Making