A currency trader talks on the phone at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea.Asian stock markets were mostly higher Friday after a mixed Wall Street close on listless trading.
Major U.S. stock indexes closed unevenly Thursday after losses in health care stocks mostly offset gains in industrial companies and banks. Major European indexes closed mostly higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.2% to 29,776.62. New Zealand and Southeast Asian markets declined while Taiwan advanced.
The U.S. market gave back some of the previous day’s gains after minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting showed the majority of officials want to keep interest rates unchanged. Investors want the central bank to take a more laid-back approach to avoid triggering a market slump.