European markets are mostly down, while China advances after quiet day on Wall Street

Shares are mixed in Asia after a quiet day on Wall Street, where major US stock indexes had a listless day of trading ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday

World stocks showed a mixed performance on Wednesday, grappling with a robust US dollar and the unpredictability surrounding the US election.

European trading saw a mostly negative start, with Germany’s DAX made a minimal loss of less than 0.1%, landing at 19,414.73, while Paris’ CAC 40 edged down by 0.3% to 7,511.72. In contrast, Britain’s FTSE 100 experienced a slight uptick, climbing 0.1% to 8,312.97. Futures pointed to a gloomy open in the states, with the S&P 500 was poised to fall by 0.1%, and the Dow Jones looked set to shed 0.3%.

Over in Asia, the Japanese benchmark Nikkei 225 declined by 0.8% to close at 38,104.86 amid a stronger US dollar against the yen. However, Tokyo Metro Co. witnessed its shares surge by 45% in its first day of trading, with the company securing a massive 348.6 billion yen ($2.3bn) in its IPO, marking Japan’s most significant public offering since SoftBank Corp.’s debut in 2018.

Chinese markets welcomed a second day of gains after their central bank trimmed both its one-year and five-year Loan Prime Rates earlier in the week. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong advanced by 1.3% reaching 20,760.15, and the Shanghai Composite saw an increase of 0.5% coming to rest at 3,302.80.

State media reports suggested that a government-aligned think tank has been eyeing the release of 2 trillion yuan ($281bn) in special government bonds. The goal is to establish a market stabilization fund to alleviate hidden debt burdens and boost confidence in Chinese markets.

Nonetheless, the significant proposal doesn't seem to shake off concerns that Beijing is still responding rather than preventing issues. "Yet, despite the bold proposal, there’s a sense that Beijing remains in reactionary mode, playing catch-up rather than getting ahead of the game," observed Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, in his analysis.

In other markets, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 nudged up by 0.1% to 8,216.00, while South Korea’s Kospi saw a rise of 1.1% to 2,599.62. Taiwan's Taiex dipped by 0.9%, and India's Sensex experienced a slight gain of 0.2%.

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 and the Dow both slipped less than 0.1%, while the Nasdaq composite rose by 0.2%. Stocks have seen their record-breaking momentum slow this week due to pressure from rising Treasury yields.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury remained steady at 4.20%, significantly higher than Friday's level of 4.08%. This increase in Treasury yields can make investors less willing to pay high prices for stocks, which some argue are already overpriced.

These yields have been on the rise following numerous reports indicating that the US economy remains stronger than anticipated. This is positive news for Wall Street as it suggests the economy could avoid the worst inflation in generations without the feared recession.

Traders now largely expect the Fed to cut its main interest rate by half a percentage point more by the end of the year, according to data from CME Group. A month ago, some traders were predicting the federal funds rate to end the year half a percentage point lower than that.

In early Wednesday trading, benchmark US crude dropped 76 cents to $70.98 a barrel, and Brent crude, the international standard, fell 76 cents to $75.28 a barrel. The US dollar has climbed to 152.77 Japanese yen from 151.08 yen. Meanwhile, the euro has dipped to $1.0786 from $1.0800.