Asian stocks closed narrowly mixed on Friday, marking time in the absence of a Wall Street lead due to the Thanksgiving holiday, dealers said.
They said there was some stock-specific news to provide a feature but overall, trade was fairly muted as investors wound down after a positive week saw many markets at record or near-record levels.
Despite some revision to the view that the Nov. 1 US Federal Reserve meeting had signalled an earlier-than-expected halt to US interest rate hikes, most now believe the end of the cycle is close, most likely early next year.
On the day, Tokyo extended its winning streak to a seventh day with a gain of 0.28 percent whilst Seoul inched up 0.12 percent for another record finish.
Mumbai too was in record-breaking form, adding 1.25 percent to put the historic 9,000 points level within reach.
In Taipei the TAIEX closed 0.27 percent higher as select technology stocks, notably flat-panel display makers, attracted support, dealers said.
At the same time, the upside was capped by continuing caution in the run-up to Dec. 3 local elections, they said.
The TAIEX added 16.31 points at 6,128.20, off a high of 6,145.01 and a low of 6,122.17, on turnover of NT$78.79 billion (US$2.34 billion). Risers led decliners 518 to 437, with 239 stocks unchanged.
Foreign investors maintained their buy stance, probably seeing Taiwan as a laggard compared with South Korea and Japan, said Oliver Fang, a Yuanta Core Pacific Securities (
However, uncertainty over the elections prevented a strong market rally, he said.
"Uncertainty, especially among local investors who care more about the upcoming elections, prevented the market from staging ... an upswing right away," Fang said.
"Uncertainty is uncertainty, no matter which [party] is going to come out as the winner," he said.
Taiwan Semicondctor Manufacturing Co (
Japanese share prices closed firmer, with the benchmark index at a near five-year high for a seventh straight session as a softer yen and solid banking results added to investor optimism, dealers said.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange's benchmark Nikkei-225 index rose 41.71 points or 0.28 percent to 14,784.29, for the highest closing level since December 2000 and extending a winning streak to a seventh trading day.
The broader TOPIX index of all first-section shares climbed 12.03 points or 0.79 percent to 1,529.67.
Shares started the day on the defensive as profit-taking kicked in after six consecutive days of gains but then recovered as domestic focussed companies, notably banks and securities houses, attracted support in the afternoon, dealers said.
Inflation data for last month, released in the morning, showed no year-on-year change in the core consumer price index. The figures had little impact on the market as they were in line with market expectations, dealers said.
South Korean share prices edged up for another record finish but were off intraday highs as foreign investors took profit on Samsung Electronics, dealers said.
They said that with the US markets closed for the Thanksgiving Day holiday there was little guidance from overseas.
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