SINGAPORE: Shares in major markets in Asia and the Pacific fell mostly in trading on Thursday, with casino shares in Hong Kong experiencing another day of heavy losses.
Shares of Wynn Macau in Hong Kong fell 5%, Sands China fell 6.65% and Melco International Development fell 4.47%. Meanwhile, Galaxy Entertainment Group gained 1.4%. These moves followed a drop in casino shares on Wednesday when Macau launched a public consultation on gambling.
The broadest Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell 1.97%. In mainland China, the Shanghai composite fell 0.68%, while the Shenzhen component fell 1.258%.
Elsewhere, the Nikkei 225 in Japan fell about 0.8%, while the Topix index fell 0.51%. Kospi, South Korea, was down 0.74%.
In Australia, the S & P / ASX 200 advanced 0.53%.
Australia’s unemployment rate fell to 4.5% seasonally in August, according to data released on Thursday, below the 4.9% forecast in a Reuters poll. However, the Australian Statistical Office attributed the decline to a “large drop in participation during recent closures” rather than strengthening labor market conditions.
MSCI’s broader Asia-Pacific stock index outside of Japan fell 0.84%.
Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 236.82 points to 34,814.39, while the S&P 500 gained 0.85% to 4,480.70. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.82% to 15,161.53.
Looking ahead, U.S. unemployment claims data will be released on Thursday, and economists surveyed by Dow Jones expected a total of 320,000 Americans to file for unemployment insurance the week ending Sept. 11.
Coins and oils
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, stood at 92,518 as it struggles to recover after falling from 92.8 earlier in the week.
The Japanese yen was trading at 109.29 per dollar, stronger than the levels above the 110 observed against the green dollar earlier this week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7324, still below the levels above the $ 0.735 seen earlier this week.
Oil prices were higher in Asian trading hours. International benchmark Brent crude oil futures rose 0.24% to $ 75.64 a barrel and U.S. crude oil futures rose 0.25% to $ 72.79 a barrel.