Shares in Asia were mixed Thursday as investor focus turned
increasingly to earnings, including disappointing results from
Apple Inc., and turmoil in the commodities market.
The Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.2% to 4035.43 in early
trading, on track for its sixth-consecutive session of gains, while
the smaller Shenzhen index ticked up 0.6% to 2302.06.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was up 0.4%, Australia's S&P
ASX 200 was down 0.2% and South Korea's Kospi fell 0.2%.
U.S. stocks slipped overnight, led down by the
information-technology and telecommunication sectors. Shares of
Apple fell 4.2% after the tech giant posted lower-than-expected
shipping results and guidance despite upbeat sales growth in China
and a new Apple watch.
Microsoft Corp. added to the downbeat tone with its big
quarterly loss, and shares slipped 3.7%.
"A weak overnight lead from Europe and Wall Street weighed on
regional sentiment early as investors worried about what the
below-street estimate shipping activity for Apple meant for the
regional supply chain and export activity more generally," wrote
Matthew Sherwood, head of investment strategy at Perpetual Ltd., in
a morning note.
In the beaten-down commodities markets, spot gold edged up 0.2%
to $1,094.10 in the early Asian session, after trading near
five-year lows for most of the week. Other metals including silver,
platinum and palladium also traded fractionally higher.
Crude oil futures diverged with the U.S. benchmark edging up 7
cents to $49.25 and Brent off 10 cents to $56.03.
Write to Chao Deng at Chao.Deng@wsj.com
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