SINGAPORE – Shares of Asia-Pacific trade mixed Thursday morning after the S&P 500 rose to a record close overnight.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.55%, while the Topix index fell 0.62%. Kospi in South Korea also lost 0.32%.
Shares in Australia rose, with the S & P / ASX 200 up 0.39%.
The largest MSCI index of Asia-Pacific equities outside Japan traded 0.1% lower.
Overnight, the S&P 500 rose 0.15% to a new close of 4,079.95. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 16.02 points more to end its trading day at 33,446.26, while the Nasdaq Composite closed 0.1% lower at 13,688.84.
The movements on Wall Street took place when the US Federal Reserve launched minutes from its March meeting, during which time it maintained its accommodative policy. The summary of the meeting indicated that while officials have seen the economy gain considerably, they see much more progress needed before ultra-light policy changes.
Coins and oil
The US dollar index, which is following the green dollar against a basket of its colleagues, was at 92.41 after its decline at the beginning of the week of over 92.8.
The Japanese yen traded at 109.88 per dollar, stronger than levels above 110.5 against the green dollar seen earlier this week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7608, after falling from levels above $ 0.764 yesterday.
Oil prices were lower in the morning trading hours in Asia, with international references to Brent crude futures falling 0.28% to $ 62.98 a barrel. US crude futures also fell 0.37% to $ 59.55 a barrel.
– CNBC’s Jeff Cox contributed to this report.