Australia has a higher trade surplus than expected in July

SINGAPORE – Shares in Asia-Pacific traded higher on Thursday as Australia reported a higher-than-expected trade surplus in July.

The S & P / ASX 200 in Australia fell 0.72%. Australia recorded a trade surplus of A $ 12.117 billion (about $ 8.9 billion) in July, according to data released Thursday by the country’s Statistics Office. This was well above the Australian $ 10.2 billion surplus projected in a Reuters poll.

Elsewhere, mainland Chinese stocks mixed, with the Shanghai compound up 0.55%, while the Shenzhen component fell 0.316%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood fractionally higher.

Chinese regulators convened and interviewed 11 companies that asked them to rectify behavior that does not meet the requirements. Among the companies that were interviewed by the Ministry of Transport and other regulators were Didi and Meituan.

Shares of Meituan in Hong Kong were 0.63% higher Thursday afternoon in the city. Shares of other Chinese technology companies in Hong Kong were also largely in positive territory: Tencent jumped 1.68% and Alibaba rose 2.3%. The Hang Seng Tech index advanced 1.33%.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.32%, while the Topix index was fractionally higher. Kospi, South Korea, fell 0.76%.

MSCI’s broader Asia-Pacific stock index outside of Japan fell 0.13%.

At vaccine developments Covid, Moderna and Takeda Pharmaceutical announced Wednesday that they were working with Japanese authorities to remove several batches after stainless steel contaminants were discovered in some vials. Shares of Takeda Pharmaceutical in Japan fell about 1% in trading on Thursday.

The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, stood at 92,516, levels below the 92.7 seen earlier in the week.

The Japanese yen was trading at 110 per dollar, stronger than the levels around 110.4 seen yesterday against the green dollar. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7365, after falling from $ 0.73 earlier in the week.

Oil prices were lower in the afternoon of business hours in Asia, and international benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.22% to $ 71.43 a barrel. US crude oil futures fell 0.35% to $ 68.35 a barrel.