Tech, Central Bank Outlooks Churn Asian Stock Markets

06:41 AM EDT, 06/26/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Asian stock markets turned in a choppy Thursday as traders weighed tech values in New York, central bank tightening in Hong Kong, and kept an eye on Middle East conflicts.

Tokyo finished in the green, while Hong Kong and Shanghai lagged. Other regional exchanges were also uneven.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened higher and rose to the close, finishing up 1.7% as tech shares followed overnight gains of peers on Wall Street.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 642.51 to 39,584.58, as gaining issues outnumbered losers 168 to 52.

Leading the upside was industrial-machine maker Ebara, up 9.8%, while Renesas Electronics declined 12%.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index opened lower and could not recover, finishing off 0.6% after the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the city's de facto central bank, took steps to essentially tighten monetary policy.

The broad gauge Hang Seng fell 149.27 to 24,325.40, as losing issues outnumbered gainers 50 to 31. The Hang Seng TECH Index lost 0.3% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index fell 0.5%.

Leading the upside was aluminum-producer China Hongqiao, gaining 4.2%, while Geely Automobile declined 4.9%.

In economic news, the HKMA sold $1.2 billion of US dollars and bought the equivalent worth of Hong Kong dollars, in a bid to prevent the Hong Kong dollar from depreciating, the central bank disclosed Thursday.

The HKMA had forewarned that the intervention would lift local interbank rates and make property financing more expensive, reported the South China Morning Post.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.2% to 3,448.45.

On the other regional exchanges, the S. Korean KOSPI fell 0.9%; the Taiwan TWSE inclined 0.3%; the Australian ASX 200 declined 0.1%; the Singapore Straits Times Index rose 0.3%, and the Thai Set declined 0.1%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was up 1.2%.

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