Investing.com - Asian shares were narrowly mixed on Thursday as markets tread cautiously on growing prospects for a Fed rate hike in March.
The Nikkei 225 fell 0.58% with Toshiba shares down 2.05% amid mounting troubles over efforts to restructure operations after a massive write-down related to its US nuclear unit. The S&P/ASX 200 eased 0.06%.
In Australia, data showed 13,500 jobs added to employment figures in January, more than the 10,000 expected with the unemployment rate down to 5.7% from an expected and previous 5.8% rate.
In China, the Shanghai Composite edged up 0.02%. Singapore's top lender DBS Group said Thursday that net profit in the fourth quarter of 2016 fell nearly 9 percent from a year ago to S$913 million.
The Federal Reserve aims to raise U.S. interest rates soon, New York Fed President William Dudley said Wednesday, if, as expected, fiscal policies provide stimulus. "We expect to gradually remove further monetary policy accommodation and snug up interest rates a little bit further in the months ahead," Dudley said.
Overnight, Wall Street closed at record highs on Wednesday, galvanized by robust US economic data and continued optimism that President Donald Trump will cut corporate taxes.
At the close Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 107 points, or 0.52% at 20,611. The S&P 500 climbed 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.64%.
Markets also parsed congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen that the U.S. economy was “close to achieving Fed mandates” on inflation and jobs, pointing to a possible rate hike in March.
Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool showed that 27% of traders expect the Fed to raise interest rates at its next meeting in March.