Asian shares traded mixed on Thursday morning after Wall Street closed mostly higher led by a spike in oil prices, and as investors digested the start of the U.K.’s exit from the European Union.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.27 percent in early trade, likely due to prolonged yen strength. The yen is seen as a safe-haven currency, but a stronger yen is generally negative for many Japanese companies as export earnings are reduced.
Shares of Toshiba were down 0.87 percent, ahead of an extraordinary shareholders meeting. The Japanese conglomerate’s U.S. subsidiary Westinghouse Electric filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday, after it posted a multi-billion dollar write-off due to cost overruns at four nuclear reactors under construction in the U.S.
The ASX 200 rose 0.31 percent, led by its materials and energy sub-indexes.
In South Korea, the Kospi index rose 0.31 percent in morning trade.
U.S. equities closed mostly higher on Wednesday, led by energy.
Samsung Electronics, which released its Samsung Galaxy S8 smartphone in South Korea today, was up 1.29 percent. The latest model is the company’s first premium smartphone since its September recall of all Galaxy Note 7 devices due to its fire-prone batteries.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.2 percent to close at 20,659.32, the S&P 500 rose 2.56 points to end at 2,361.13. The Nasdaq composite closed up 0.38 percent at 5,897.55. Over in Europe, stocks closed higher on Wednesday as investors remained calm over Britain’s Brexit proceedings.
The pound and the euro both fell against the dollar when the official letter triggering Article 50 was handled to European Council President Donald Tusk.
At 8 am HK/SIN, the pound traded at $1.236, lower than highs seen at 1.2460 seen yesterday and the euro eased to $1.0754, compared to yesterday’s highs of $1.0814.
“The weakness in sterling was directly related to all the uncertainty and questions that we know have, after the U.K. began these proceedings. There’s a lot more questions than answers, I do believe that we could see further sterling weakness,” Kathy Lien, managing director at BK Asset Management told CNBC.
Lien added that she expects further pressure to the pound as the EU “are not going to start negotiations with the U.K. from an area of weakness and will have a hard-line stance.”
Crude oil prices surged 2 percent on Wednesday U.S. time, after U.S. stockpiles grew less than expected according to the Energy Information Administration.
Global benchmark Brent crude was up 2.1 percent at $52.42 and U.S. crude settled up 2.4 percent at $49.51 a barrel.