Stock market today: Asian shares slip, echoing Wall Street's weak start to 2024
ABC News
Asian stocks are lower, tracking a weak start to 2024 on Wall Street as Japan's markets reopened
TOKYO -- Asian stocks slipped on Thursday, tracking a weak start to 2024 on Wall Street as Japan’s markets reopened.
The mood was somber in Tokyo as the market reopened from the New Year holidays with a moment of silence instead of a celebratory New Year's ring of the bell after a major earthquake Monday left at least 77 people dead and dozens missing.
Dark-suited officials bowed their heads in a ceremony that usually features women clad in colorful kimonos. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.5% to 33,288.29.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.4% to 16,574.36 and the Shanghai Composite index sank 0.4% to 2,946.15.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.4% to 7,494.10. South Korea's Kospi declined 0.8% to 2,586.02. India's Sensex, however, climbed 0.6%.
Japan has recorded a trade surplus of 57.3 billion yen, or $360 million, in February, according to government data, reversing from a deficit a month earlier
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