Sunrise view of Seoul's downtown skyline, aerial view of N Seoul Tower in Namsan Park in the morning twilight sky. Best viewpoint and trek of Mount Inwangsan in Seoul, South Korea
Mongkul Chuwong | moment | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed on Thursday after Wall Street stock indexes hit record highs, shrugging off global political turmoil.
Investors continue to monitor the political situation in South Korea and France. Less than a day after declaring martial law, South Korean lawmakers introduced a motion to impeach President Yeon Suk-yeol.
The leader of Yoon's ruling People Power Party, Han Dong-hun, said on Thursday that the party would try to oppose the proposal, Yonhap News Agency reported. In emails sent to NBC News, Yoon's office maintained that his call for martial law was constitutional.
The opposition party's deputy spokesman, Cho Seung-rae, reportedly said he intends to hold the vote on Saturday at 7 p.m. local time, according to local media.
South Korea released revised third-quarter GDP, which showed the economy expanded 0.1% on a quarterly basis, and 1.5% on a yearly basis, unchanged from advanced estimates.
The South Korean market opened higher but quickly lost momentum. the Cosby It fell by 0.44% while the Kosdaq fell by 0.14%.
Elsewhere in Asia, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.1% to close at 8,471.10.
Japan Nikki 225 The Topix Index jumped 0.31%, while the Topix Index traded near the flat line.
Hong Kong Hang Seng Index Futures fell just over 1%, while mainland China's CSI 300 index fell 0.13%.
“Investors may now attach a higher political risk premium to South Korea over the longer term,” Alex Smith, head of the ECB’s equity investment department, said in a note on Thursday, adding that the Bank of Korea and the Finance Ministry “helped calm the situation.” markets” by promising to support liquidity.
Smith said that while he noted that the immediate impact on financial markets may be short-lived, political uncertainty will heighten investor concerns about the economy's exposure to potential “punitive trade measures” from the incoming US administration.
On the other hand, on Wednesday, French lawmakers approved a vote of no confidence in the government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier.
In light of the political turmoil taking place in Asia and Europe. Bitcoin It rose and surpassed the $100,000 mark, setting a record high of $103,844, according to Coin Metrics.
In the US on Wednesday, all three major indexes hit all-time highs during the session and closed at record levels, with technology stocks leading the gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 308.51 points, or 0.69%, to 45,014.04 points, exceeding the 45,000-point threshold for the first time.
The broad-market S&P 500 rose 0.61% to close at 6,086.49, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.3% to close at 19,735.12.
The rise came as investors digested Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's comments on Wednesday that the recent strength of the US economy means the US central bank is able to be “a little more cautious.”
Investors are awaiting the US November unemployment report, due on Friday, which should provide some insight into the Fed's future policy moves. The next interest rate decision comes in two weeks, and markets estimate a roughly 78% chance of a quarter-point rate cut by the Federal Open Market Committee, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.
— CNBC's Sean Conlon, Lisa Kailai Han and Hakyung Kim contributed to this report.
