Asian stocks little changed as focus moves to ECB policy decision

Asian stock markets were little changed in early trading on Thursday, with investors digesting a weak close in Wall Street and a batch of regional corporate earnings.

Australia ASX +3.40 +0.06% 5,976.10 OPEN

Shanghai Comp +15.55 +0.46% 3,412.45 OPEN

Hang Seng Index -45.72 -0.16% 28,257.17 OPEN

Nikkei 225 +37.82 +0.17% 21,745.44 OPEN

TSEC 50 Index -4.01 -0.04% 10,746.56 OPEN

Among an extensive list of components, we noted relevant developments in OCBC, Qantas and ANZ stock prices in reaction to their third-quarter results.

In Singapore, OCBC reported a net profit growth of 12 percent for the third quarter of this year up to S$1.06 billion. The bank noted figures were a result of good performance seen in its banking, wealth management and insurance divisions.

In Australia, Qantas stock prices dropped as the company said earlier this year that market conditions in the second-half of 2017 were not expected to be as good as previous months.

ANZ reported a year to year net profit increase of 12 percent to A$6.41 billion up to September 30, 2017. The bank fell short from an initially forecasted profit of A$6.87 billion for the period.

Overnight, Wall Street top indexes closed lower on the back of disappointing corporate earnings, marking their worst day in nearly two months.

The Dow Jones industrial average notched down 112.3 points to finish the session at 23,329.46, with Boeing leading other sectors to the downside.

The S&P 500 eased 0.47 percent to end at 2,557.15, with industrials and telecommunications contributing most to losses. Stocks of fast-food chain Chipotle Mexican Grill plunged 14.6 percent after the company's quarterly earnings fell short from expected values.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite was down half of a percent to 6,563.8, with Advanced Micro Devices leading decliners with a 13.5 percent loss.

In the previous session, the US Commerce Department said non-defense capital goods orders rose 1.3 percent in September, above an initially forecasted 1.0 percent build.

Existing home sales in the United States rose 18.9 percent in September from a prior month to a seasonally adjusted 667,000 units, a separate report from the Commerce Department showed. Analysts had estimated a 0.9 percent drop to an annual rate of 555,000 units.

Ahead in the day, attention will be directed to the European Central Bank monetary meeting. Policymakers are expected to reduce the volume of the bank’s asset purchase program to 30 million euro per month.

On the data front, participants await goods trade balance for September and initial jobless claims as of 12:30 GMT. Pending home sales are due for release at 14:00 GMT.

Fort Financial Services