Stocks in Asia were mixed overnight with the Nikkei (^N225) down 0.5% on the day in Japan, which follows a weak auction of 30-year debt, where there was the weakest demand since 2023.
The Hang Seng (^HSI) saw its third consecutive advance, up 0.9% in Hong Kong, and the Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was 0.2% higher by the end of the session.
South Korea’s KOSPI (^KS11) climbed 1.5% during the session, building on Wednesday's 2.7% gain, with the index currently on track to close at its highest level since mid-July.
Across the pond on Wall Street, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) eked out a 0.01% gain, narrowly reaching a three-month high, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) was 0.3% higher.
Meanwhile, the Dow Jones (^DJI) lost 0.2% by the closing bell after a weak batch of US data led to a rally for US Treasuries, which in turn supported risk assets.
Investors became a lot more confident that the Fed would still cut rates this year, and the 10-year Treasury yield fell 10.0bps on the day to 4.36%.
