Stock market today: Asian stocks mixed in muted holiday trading as 2023 draws to a close

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stocks posted mixed results in quiet trading on Friday, the last trading day of the year, with some regional markets posting solid gains in 2023 while many fell.

US oil and futures prices rose.

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo fell 0.6% to 33,358.11. It is up nearly 30% in 2023, its best year in a decade as the Japanese central bank moves toward ending its long-standing ultra-loose monetary policy.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.5% to 16,966.77, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.3% to 2,964.68. The Shanghai index has lost about 4% this year and the Hang Seng is down almost 15%.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.4% to 7,582.20, after gaining 6.2% for the year.

India's Sensex fell 0.2% to 72,255.72. It has gained more than 18% this year, hitting new highs as investors bought heavily on expectations that the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates next year, giving a boost to the United States and other economies after managed to reduce inflation from a peak of more than 9% in 2022.

Taiwan's Taiex was stable but is ending the year up more than 26%, driven by strong earnings for semiconductor manufacturers.

Wall Street was mostly quiet Thursday ahead of the last trading day of the year, although all major indexes are on track to post weekly gains.

The S&P 500 rose 0.1% to 4,783.35. It is on track for its ninth consecutive week of gains and is up more than 24% for the year. The two-month rally has also brought the benchmark index closer to surpassing its all-time high set in January 2022.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% to 37,710.10.

The Nasdaq Composite fell less than 0.1% to 15,095.14. It has far outperformed the broader market this year and is on track to close 2023 with a gain of more than 44%.

There are few economic indicators coming out of Washington this week. The latest weekly report on unemployment benefits showed that claims went up last week, but not enough to raise concerns about the job market or the economy in general. The overall labor market has been strong throughout 2023 and has been a driving force for the economy.

The average long-term mortgage rate in the US retired for the ninth consecutive week to their lowest level since May, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. Mortgage rates have been falling since late October, along with long-term Treasury yields.

The 10-year Treasury yield was at 3.84% early Friday. It surpassed 5.00% in October, but has been falling overall since then.

Apple rose 0.2% after a federal court temporarily lifted a sales suspension for two high-end models of the Apple Watch that the International Trade Commission had imposed due to a patent dispute.

Stocks of technology and communications companies posted some of the biggest gains. Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices rose 1.8%.

US crude oil prices fell 3.2%, weighing on energy stocks. Hess fell 2.6%.

Earlier Friday, benchmark U.S. crude rose 36 cents to $72.13 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude rose 45 cents to $77.60 a barrel.

Companies will soon conclude their final financial quarter and begin publishing those results in January. Overall, S&P 500 companies have posted relatively strong earnings gains after stumbling through the first half of 2023. That has given Wall Street more hope that the economy will remain strong in 2024.

The Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation fell to 2.6% in November from a high of 7.1% in 2022. That has helped improve forecasts for companies worried that inflation will squeeze consumers and raise prices. costs.

Wall Street is betting that the Federal Reserve will no longer raise interest rates and will likely move on to cutting them in the new year. The central bank has held rates steady since its July meeting, and Wall Street expects it to begin cutting rates as early as March.

In currency trading on Friday, the US dollar rose to 141.43 Japanese yen from 141.41 yen. The euro rose to $1.1070 from $1.1063.

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AP Business Writer Damian J. Troise contributed.