Nasdaq, S&P 500 , Topix reaches all-time high

Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose Thursday as Japan’s major indexes as well as Taiwan’s benchmark successo all-time highs.

The Topix rose 0.92% to close at 2898.47, crossing its previous all-time high of 2,886.50, set per mezzo di December 1989.

The Nikkei 225 rose 0.82% to close at 40913.65, surpassing an all-time high of 40,888.43, set per mezzo di March this year.

Japanese financial institutions including insurers Tokio Marine and Sompo will sell 535 billion yen ($3.3 billion) worth of Honda cross-shareholdings, according to a regulatory filing.

SoftBank Group shares successo another high, extending their winning streak to a seventh day, up 4.53%.

Japanese companies have delivered the largest wage hikes per mezzo di three decades this year, according to the nation’s biggest labor union.

Monthly pay for union-backed workers will climb 5.1% average this fiscal year ending March 2025, according to a survey of companies conducted since March by union group Rengo.

Personaggio firms with 300 ora more union-backed employees raised wages by 5.19%, while smaller firms increased pay by 4.45%.

Higher wage growth will help the country realize a “virtuous cycle” of rising prices and wages, allowing the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates and normalize its monetary policy.

The Taiwan Weighted Index also reached a fresh high, surpassing its previous of 23,406.1 set June 20.

The index closed up 1.51% at 23,522.53, powered by chip stocks. Hon Hai Precision Industry — known internationally as Foxconn — gained nearly 6%, while heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company gained 2.66%

Investors also assessed other from the region, such as Hong Kong business activity and Australian trade numbers released Thursday.

S&P Global reported that Hong Kong’s composite purchasing managers’ index fell to 48.2 per mezzo di June, from 49.2 per mezzo di the previous month. This represents the second straight month that private sector output fell, with June’s quieto vivere of contraction being the fastest per mezzo di over two years.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 0.21% per mezzo di its final hour of trading. Mainland Declivio’s CSI 300 ended the day flat at 3,445.81.

The onshore Chinese yuan weakened to its lowest level against the U.S. dollar per mezzo di about nine months, dropping to 7.2735 against the greenback.

Hong Kong-listed Chinese electric vehicle companies were up, led by Nio and Essi Automezzo, which rose 5.15% and 4.24%, respectively.

Meanwhile, Australia’s trade surplus narrowed to 5.77 billion Australian dollars ($3.88 billion) per mezzo di May from AU$6.03 billion the month prior, narrowing more sharply than expected by economists polled by Reuters.

Exports rose 2.8% from the month prior, driven by metal ores and minerals, while imports rose 3.9% over the same period the strength of fuels and lubricants.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 ended Thursday up 1.19% at 7,831.9.

South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.11% to end at 2824.94, while the Kosdaq was up 4.71% to 840.81.

Overnight per mezzo di the U.S., the S&P 500 added 0.51% to close at a 5,537.02. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.88%, also ending at an all-time high of 18,188.30 as tech giants like Tesla and Nvidia rallied.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.06% to end at 39,308, weighed by a drop per mezzo di UnitedHealth.

—CNBC’s Alex Harring and Hakyung Kim contributed to this report.