Main Asian stock indexes continued to rise strongly on Thursday. The Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Composite gained 0.13% and 0.12% respectively. The Hang Seng Index added 0.3%, the KOSPI rose by 0.2%, the Nikkei 225 went up by 0.51%, and the S&P/ASX 200 increased by 0.3%.
Asian stock markets are on the rise, following the upside movement of US indexes. The US markets found support in recent GDP data. The US economy increased in the third quarter by 2.3% year-over-year. Economists expected an increase of 2.1%. However, the GDP growth significantly decreased, compared to the second quarter's 6.7% rise, and the Federal Reserve had to revise its economic growth outlook downwards from 5.9% to 5.5%.
Recent reports suggesting that the Omicron strain is less severe than earlier strains of COVID-19 also boosted the market, alleviating some concerns about the possible impact of Omicron on the global economy. However, countries in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region are keeping current restrictions in place.
Shares of Tencent Holdings, Ltd. were the best performers among Chinese companies, rising by 4.2% on the announcement that the company will distribute the majority of its shares in JD.com to its shareholders as dividend. The 457.3 million shares to be distributed by Tencent are valued at 127,7 million Hong Kong dollars, which is about $16.4 billion.
In Japan, Toyota Motor Corp., Softbank Group Corp., Rakuten Group Inc. were on the upside, rising by 1.7%, 0.2%, and 0.2% respectively. Shares of Fast Retailing (T:9983) Co. lost 0.3%
In South Korea, shares of Samsung Electronics Co. gained 0.3%, while SK Hynix Inc. decreased by 0.4%. Stocks of Kia Corp. and LG Corp. rose by 0.2% and 1.5% respectively.
Shares of major Australian companies continue to slump. Fortescue Metal Group lost 1.4%, BHP Group, Ltd. declined by 0.3%, and Rio Tinto, Ltd. decreased by 0.1%.