Shares were mixed in Asia on Thursday, as flaring tensions between the U.S. and China added to uncertainties overhanging regional markets.
Benchmarks rose in Hong Kong and Sydney but fell in Shanghai, Seoul and Taiwan. Asia's biggest market, Tokyo, was closed for a four-day weekend.
India's Sensex picked up 0.1% to 37,935.75. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.2% to 6,085.90, even after Josh Frydenberg, the treasurer, said data showed the economy contracted 7% in the last quarter.It was unclear if the latest flare-up in tensions between Washington and Beijing was swaying investors in Asia, where Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.3% to 25,139.69.Further roiling already fractious relations between the two biggest economies, the U.S.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange added companies from its new technology board to the Shanghai Composite Index on Wednesday in the index's first major change in three decades. Strength in technology and health care stocks outweighed losses in energy companies, banks and elsewhere in the market. Treasury yields fell slightly, a sign of caution in the market.
So far, earnings have been coming in moderately better than expected, though companies have worked to lower expectations.Homebuilders marched broadly higher after the National Association of Realtors said sales of previously occupied U.S. homes climbed last month by a robust 20.7%.
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