Move FM Australian News

SYDNEY, NSW, Australia – Stocks in Japan plummeted on Thursday, a day after posting an 8% gain.

Australian stocks made solid gains for the third day in a row, while mainland China and Hong Kong were keeping their head above water in late trading.

“After this crazy 3 weeks of trading we are now coming to a more static state,” Margaret Yang, market analyst at brokerage CMC Markets in Singapore told Reuters Thomson Thursday. “Bulls and bears are fighting each other with equal strength.”

Japan’s benchmark index, the Nikkei 225, sank 882.03 points or 4.51% Thursday to 18,664.60.

The Australian All Ordinaries gained 129.00 points or 2.58% to 5,135.20.

Both the Shanghai Composite and the Hong Kong Hang Seng were in the black, but gains were under 1% with some time on the clock before the close.

The U.S. dollar was mixed, but given the appearance it is poised to resume its upward trajectory shortly.

The euro meantime strengthened to 1.0913 by late trading in Sydney Thursday. The British pound was a half-cent lower compared to its New York close a day earlier. It last traded in Sydney at 1.1835. The Japanese yen recovered some of its recent losses to be changing hands at 110.55. The Swiss franc firmed to 0.9739.

The Canadian dollar was a tad weaker at 1.4272.

The Australian and New Zealand dollars ecah dropped a quarter-of-a-cent to 0.5923 and 0.5818 respectively.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 2.39% higher at 21,200.55.

The Standard and Poor’s 500 added 1.15% to 2,475.56.

The Nasdaq Composite declined 0.45% to 7,384.30.