Stock market today: World shares are mixed after China rolls out market
boosting measures
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 [January 23, 2025] By
ELAINE KURTENBACH
BANGKOK (AP) — World shares were mixed on Thursday after China rolled
out more moves to try to boost its lagging stock markets by raising
confidence that prices will rise.
Germany's DAX gained 0.2% to 21,300 and the CAC 40 in Paris edged 0.1%
higher to 7,847.38. Britain's FTSE 100 slipped less than 0.1% to
8,539.88.
The future for the S&P 500 lost 0.2% while that for the Dow Jones
Industrial Average was down less than 0.1%.
Officials in Beijing said Chinese pension funds and mutual funds would
be required to increase purchases of shares, to guarantee that market
value rises. Listed companies will also be encouraged to do more stock
buybacks and raise dividends to improve shareholder returns, the head of
the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Wu Qing told reporters.
Share prices in Shanghai bounced higher, closing up 0.5% at 3,230.16.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped after initial gains, losing 0.4% to
19,700.56.
“The relief over Donald Trump not announcing new tariffs on China during
his inauguration didn’t last long,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya of Swissquote Bank
said in a commentary, noting the U.S. president's comment that he still
plans new 10% tariffs on imports of Chinese goods. With buying
enthusiasm weak, “the shooting star pattern of today hints that
sentiment remains bearish for Chinese equities,” she wrote.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index gained 0.8% to 39,958.87, helped by gains
in technology shares, including those of SoftBank Group Corp. It is
investing heavily in Stargate, a joint venture the White House has
announced will start building out data centers and the electricity
generation needed for the further development of artificial
intelligence.
The partnership formed by Oracle, OpenAI and SoftBank is due to invest
up to $500 billion. SoftBank’s shares rose 5.1% on Thursday in Tokyo
trading after jumping 11% the day before.
Fuji Media Holdings dropped 7.8% after Masahiro Nakai, one of Japan’s
top TV hosts and a former pop star, said Thursday he was retiring to
take responsibility over sexual assault allegations that are part of a
wave roiling Japan’s entertainment industry. The Fuji TV scandal
triggered an avalanche of lost advertising at one of the networks where
he worked.
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A currency trader passes by a screen showing the Korea Composite
Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate
between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange
dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South
Korea, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
 Elsewhere in Asia, the S&P/ASX 200
in Australia fell 0.6% to 8,378.70, while the Kospi in Seoul lost
1.2% to 2,515.49.
India's Sensex rose 0.3% while the SET in Bangkok shed 0.7%.
On Wednesday, Netflix, Oracle and other big technology stocks lifted
Wall Street Wednesday as their profits pile higher and excitement
builds around the moneymaking prospects of AI .
Oracle added 6.8% and Nvidia, the company whose chips are powering
much of the move into AI, rose 4.4%.
The S&P 500 rose 0.6% and the Dow added 0.3%. The Nasdaq composite
climbed 1.3%.
The gains came even though most U.S. stocks fell under the weight of
higher Treasury yields.
The smaller stocks in the Russell 2000 index lost 0.6%, for example,
and roughly two out of every three stocks in the S&P 500 sank. But
gains for big, influential stocks were more than enough to make up
for it.
Netflix jumped 9.7% after it said live events like football games
and a Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight helped it add nearly 19 million
subscribers during the latest quarter.
In the cryptocurrency market, where prices have surged on hopes
President Donald Trump will make Washington friendlier to the
industry, bitcoin was sitting just above $102,000, according to
CoinDesk. It had set a record above $109,000 on Monday.
Some sourness lingers Trump and his wife launched meme coins, which
critics said looked like an unseemly cash grab.
In other dealings early Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude oil shed 16
cents to $75.28 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard,
lost 13 cents to $78.87 per barrel.
The dollar rose to 156.53 Japanese yen from 156.43 yen. The euro
fell to $1.0398 from $1.0411.
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