Investing.com - On Friday, Asia-Pacific (APAC) indices opened lower, following a dip in US benchmarks overnight.
By 10:50 am AEST (12:50 am GMT) the S&P/ASX 200, KOSPI 200, and Nikkei 225 slid by 0.5%, 0.3%, and 0.8% respectively.
On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surpassed the 40,000-point milestone for the first time, 873 trading days after the index first closed above 30,000 in November 2020. However, by market close, this momentum had waned, leaving the index roughly 131 points short of this landmark. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.1%, or 38.62 points, during the session, while the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ Composite also lost steam, ending the day down by 0.2% and 0.3% respectively.
Among top performers, Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT), gained 7% following a robust earnings result and Chubb Ltd (NYSE:CB) rose 4.7% after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway acquired a significant stake in the company.
In contrast, meme-stocks such as GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE:AMC) saw a decline, shedding 30% and 15% respectively.
In the commodities market, Brent crude oil rose 0.6% to US$83.27 a barrel, and gold increased 0.1% to US$2,378.17. In the bond markets, the yield on Australian 2 Year government bonds fell to 3.89%, and the 10 Year yield also decreased to 4.18%. US Treasury notes were up, with the 2 Year yield at 4.80% and the 10 Year yield at 4.37%.
Chinese shares closed higher as local governments rolled out stimulus measures for the property sector. Market expectations are rising over the likelihood of governments stepping in to buy up China's excess housing after Dali and Hangzhou announced plans to convert surplus units into public housing. The Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.1% higher at 3122.40, while the Shenzhen Composite Index and the ChiNext Price Index each rose 0.3%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.6% to close at 19376.53, boosted by positive sentiment in the Chinese property sector. Renewed hopes that government entities in China are moving to revive the sector likely boosted stocks. Longfor Group surged 11%, China Construction Bank rose 6.1%, and Country Garden Services gained 5.8%.
Japanese stocks ended higher, led by gains in electronics and brokerage stocks, as easing US inflation keeps hopes for Fed rate cuts later this year intact. Tokyo Electron Ltd. gained 4.5% and Nomura Holdings climbed 3.2%. The Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.4% to 38920.26.
Indian shares ended higher, tracking gains across regional markets. Investors cheered the US's easing inflation and weaker-than-expected retail sales data in April. Mahindra & Mahindra was the best performer on the benchmark index, rising 3.05% after its upbeat 4Q results.
In the UK, stocks slipped Thursday, with the FTSE 100 Index dropping 0.1% to 8438.65. Among large companies, Sage Group (LON:SGE) PLC posted the largest decline, dropping 9.4% to GBP1,084.50. Watches of Switzerland Group PLC was the biggest gainer during the session, surging 20% to GBP405.00.
Meanwhile, in Europe, the STOXX Europe 600 Index slipped 0.2% to 523.62, Germany's DAX dropped 0.7% to 18,738.81, and France's CAC 40 lost 0.6% to 8,188.49