Investing.com - Asian shares were narrowly mixed in Asia on Thursday with regional trade thin on holidays and markets
The Nikkei 225 edged down 0.04%, while Australia's S&P/ASX gained 0.23%. markets in Greater China and Souuth Korea were shut for holidays.
Australia reported its trade balance for August with a surplus of A$989 billion, wider than the A$875 billion surplus expected, but retail sales slumped 0.6%, compared to a 0.3% gain seen on month.
Australian retail stocks were mixed with Myer shares down 2.27% and JB Hi-Fi down 1.87%. Shares of of Wesfarmers added 0.64% and Woolworths gained 0.29%.
US stocks eked out gains on Wednesday supported by bullish economic data fueling expectations that the U.S. economy is poised for a strong end to the year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher at 22,661.64. The S&P 500 closed 0.12% higher while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 6534.63, up 0.04%.
US stocks started the session on the front foot as investors welcomed a pair of upbeat economic reports pointing to the strength in the labor market and services sector.
On the labor market front, private payrolls grew by 135,000 for the month, a sharp decline from the 228,000 in August, according to a report released Wednesday by ADP and Moody's Analytics. That beat economists’ forecast of 125,000.
Meanwhile speculation intensified concerning the next head of the Federal Reserve after Politico reported that Fed Governor Jerome Powell is favored over former Fed governor Kevin Warsh by U.S Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
“Markets are back in positive territory on speculation that Jerome Powell may have a lead to get the chairmanship of the Fed. He is more or less aligned with the current chair Yellen and markets would like to keep that status quo,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist, at Prudential Financial (NYSE:NYSE:PRU).
On the corporate front, Google (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:GOOGL) hosted an event in California on Wednesday, unveiling a bunch of products including its Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2 smartphones.