Stock Market Today: Asian Shares Mixed, Wall Street Lull

Hong Kong, May 9 (AP) Asian shares were mixed on Thursday after Wall Street's lull stretched into a second day, with Chinese benchmarks rising after China reported better-than-expected trade figures for April.

US futures were slightly lower and oil prices rose.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index was down 0.3 per cent at 38,073.98.

Automaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp.'s shares dropped 4.9 per cent after the company forecasted a 7 per cent lower net profit in the fiscal year that will end in March 2025.

Toyota Motor slipped 0.4 per cent after it reported Wednesday that it doubled its net profit in the fiscal year that ended in March.

The US dollar rose to 155.72 Japanese yen from 155.52 yen, as reports in Tokyo speculated on the likelihood of further intervention by the Finance Ministry to curb the yen's slide.

“We're always prepared to do so if necessary. We might do it today. We might do it tomorrow,” Masato Kanda, the Finance Vice Minister for International Affairs.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 1.1 per cent to 18,508.53 and the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.6 per cent to 3,148.34.

China reported that its exports rose 1.5 per cent in April from a year earlier, while imports jumped 8.4 per cent. The renewed growth suggests a stronger recovery in demand than earlier data had suggested.

In South Korea, the Kospi lost 1.1 per cent to 2,714.50. Australia's S and P/ASX 200 shed 1.1 per cent to 7,721.60.

On Wednesday, the S and P 500 finished virtually unchanged after flipping between modest gains and losses through the day. It edged down by 0.03 to 5,187.67, coming off a very slight gain on Tuesday, which followed a big three-day winning streak.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4 per cent to 39,056.39, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.2 per cent to 16,302.76.

Uber Technologies slumped 5.7 per cent after reporting worse results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also gave a forecasted range for bookings in the current quarter whose midpoint fell below analysts' estimates.

Shopify tumbled 18.6 per cent despite reporting better profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The company, which helps businesses sell things online, said its revenue growth would likely slow this quarter and that it would likely make less profit off each USD 1 in revenue.

Match Group sank 5.4 per cent despite topping profit expectations. The company behind Tinder, Hinge and other dating apps gave a forecast for revenue in the current quarter that fell short of what analysts were expecting.

Intel fell 2.2 per cent after saying the US Commerce Department revoked licenses for exports to a Chinese customer. That could cause its revenue for the current quarter to fall below the midpoint of the forecasted range it had earlier given.

They helped to offset Lyft, which revved 7.1 per cent higher after it topped expectations for profit and revenue. The company said growth was particularly strong for early-morning commutes and weekend-evening trips.

Arista Networks climbed 6.5 per cent for the biggest gain in the S and P 500 after topping expectations for both profit and revenue. The company sells network components to large scale operations such as datacentres or cloud computing networks.

Most companies have been reporting stronger profits for the start of the year than analysts expected. That and newly revived hopes for coming cuts to interest rates by the Federal Reserve have helped the US stock market to recover from its rough April.

Treasury yields have largely been easing since Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said last week that the central bank remains closer to cutting its main interest rate than hiking it, despite a string of stubbornly high readings on inflation this year.

A cooler-than-expected jobs report on Friday, meanwhile, suggested the US economy could pull off the balancing act of staying solid enough to avoid a bad recession without being so strong that it keeps inflation too high.

In other trading, US benchmark crude oil rose 39 cents to USD 79.38 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude oil, the international standard, was up 27 cents to USD 83.85 per barrel.

The euro dropped to USD 1.0741 from USD 1.0747.