Tech, Central Bank Outlooks Mix Asian Stock Markets

05:46 AM EST, 12/04/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Asian stock markets were uneven on Thursday, as traders weighed tech outlooks and an soft US jobs report issued overnight, that might incline the US Federal Reserve to ease at the central bank's policy session next week.

Hong Kong and Tokyo finished in the green, while Shanghai and other regional exchanges were mixed and muted.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened higher and rose to the close, finishing up 2.3% as traders crowded into tech issues on AI-sector optimism.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 1,163.74 to 51,028.42.

Leading the upside was industrial robot-maker Fanuc, gaining 13% on momentum following announcement of a partnership with Nvidia (NVDA) to apply AI to production-line environments. Tech-financier SoftBack rose 9.2% after disclosing plans to up stakes in ChatGPT-developer OpenAI.

Sumitomo Pharma led the downside, slipping 4.7%.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index closed up 0.7% after a soft private-sector US jobs report from ADP suggested more US central-bank easing could be on the table.

The broad gauge Hang Seng rose 175.17 to 25,935.90. The Hang Seng TECH Index gained 1.5% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index rose 0.3%.

Leading the upside was Wuxi Biologics, gaining 7.1%, while knitwear-maker Shenzhou International declined 4.7%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.1% to 3,875.79.

On the other regional exchanges, the S. Korean KOSPI fell 0.2%; the Taiwan TWSE was flat; the Australian ASX 200 inclined 0.3%; the Singapore Straits Times Index fell 0.4%, and the Thai Set declined 0.1%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was up 0.2%.

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