Investing.com - Asian-Pacific markets traded mostly lower on Thursday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted another fresh high overnight while major tech companies retreated.
By 11 am AEST, the S&P/ASX 200 remained flat while South Korea's KOSPI 200 dipped by 1.2% and Japan's Nikkei 225 saw a significant 2.2% drop.
In the US, high-flying technology shares such as NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) plunged, causing the NASDAQ Composite to experience its worst day in over a year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.6%, reaching a fresh high.
This contrasting performance reflects the ongoing stock-market rotation that investors have been grappling with for the past week. It marked the first time since 1999 that the blue-chip Dow recorded a gain while the S&P 500 fell more than 1%.
Meanwhile, traders have been rapidly adjusting their bets on the stock market's winners and losers. Many have cut back on this year's biggest gainers and shifted towards smaller companies, expected to benefit from lower interest rates.
In the commodities market, Brent crude oil rose 1.6% to US$85.08 a barrel, while gold remained flat at US$2,458.39.
Chinese shares closed broadly lower as markets continue to await an official readout from the ongoing Third Plenum, which ends Thursday. Conversely, Hong Kong shares ended higher, with the Hang Seng Index rising 0.1% to 17,739.41 and the Hang Seng Tech Index climbing 0.5%.
In Europe, stocks in the U.K. rose with the FTSE 100 Index increasing 0.3% to 8,187.46. However, other parts of Europe saw markets close lower, with the STOXX Europe 600 Index down 0.5% to 514.83, Germany's DAX slipping 0.4% to 18,437.30, and France's CAC 40 falling 0.1%.