Stocks in Asia were mostly higher overnight with the Nikkei (^N225) rising 2.1% on the day in Japan, while the Hang Seng (^HSI) climbed 2% in Hong Kong, where the country’s central bank lowered its rates owing to the city’s currency peg to the dollar.
The Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was 0.7% up by the end of the session.
It came as the Japanese yen hit almost 144 per dollar, hitting a two-week high.
Meanwhile, New Zealand’s economy shrank in the second quarter, according to official data released on Thursday morning, pushing the country close to recession.
The 0.2% contraction in the three months to June followed weak growth of 0.1% in the previous three months.
Across the pond Wall Street stocks were lower after the US Federal Reserve announced a half percentage point cut to interest rates.
The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose as much as 1% after the Fed’s interest rate cut. However, it then retreated to close down 0.3%, ending at 5,618.26.
The Dow Jones (^DJI) closed down 0.3% to 41,503.10, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) shed a similar amount to end at 17,573.30.
The yield on benchmark 10-year US Treasury notes rose to 3.71%, from 3.64% late on Tuesday.