Currency dealers monitor exchange rates in a trading room at the KEB Hana Bank in Seoul on March 13, 2017.
South Korean shares rose 0.97 percent on March 13 following the Constitutional Court’s ruling to impeach ex-president Park Geun-Hye over a massive corruption scandal.
The benchmark KOSPI was up 20.24 points to close at 2,117.59 points.
/ AFP PHOTO / JUNG Yeon-Je (Photo credit should read JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images)
Jung Yeon-Je | AFP | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets mostly fell as investors assessed South Korea’s gross domestic product numbers and markets respond to China’s central bank cutting reserve requirements for the country’s lenders.
South Korea’s GDP grew 2.2% year on year in the fourth quarter and 0.6% compared with the previous quarter, beating expectations from a Reuters poll of 2.1% and 0.5%, respectively.
Separately, the People’s Bank of China announced that it would reduce the amount of funds its banks are required to hold as reserves early next month in a bid to boost its struggling economy.
Reserve ratio requirements for banks will be cut by 50 basis points from Feb. 5, which will provide 1 trillion yuan ($139.8 billion) in long-term capital, according to PBOC governor Pan Gongsheng.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 16,090, looking to extend their rally from Wednesday and higher than the HSI’s last close of 15,899.87.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 started the day up 0.39%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.14% and the broad based Topix fell marginally, while South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.42% and the small-cap Kosdaq dropped 0.8%.
Overnight in the U.S., the S&P 500 rose Wednesday as Netflix led a broader rally among technology names, pushing the broader market to new heights. Netflix shares surged more than 10% after the streamer said its total subscriber count hit an all-time high of 260.8 million.
The broad-based index eked out a gain of 0.08% to clinch a new all-time closing high. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.36% helped by the tech rally. It was the fifth straight day of wins for both indexes.
In contrast, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.26%, to 37,806.39, dragged by Verizon and 3M a day after they reported earnings.
— CNBC’s Sarah Min and Alex Harring contributed to this report