Australian stocks hit record high amid mixed trading in Asia-Pacific markets

Asia markets ended the trading day mixed.

South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.13% to end the trading day at 3,188.07 and the small-cap Kosdaq added 0.29% to 820.67.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.37% to close at 8,757.2, a record high.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.21% to 39,819.11 while the Topix lost 0.19% to 2,834.48.

Mainland China’s CSI 300 ended the day 0.6% higher at 4,058.55.

— Lee Ying Shan

Bitcoin prices rose over 1% to $120,692.67 on Thursday after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to create a regulatory framework for stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies pegged to traditional assets like the U.S. dollar.

Ether prices jumped over 5% to $3,634.33.

The bill, which has long been lobbied by the digital asset industry, will now land on U.S. President Donald Trump’s desk, who is expected to sign it into law.

Mainland China and Hong Kong stocks opened higher amid mixed trading in the region.

Mainland China’s CSI 300 was up 0.27%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index — which includes major Chinese companies — gained 1.28%.

The Hang Seng Tech Index, which tracks the largest technology companies listed in Hong Kong, rose 1.73%.

—Lee Ying Shan

South Korea’s stock market was “severely undervalued” for the past six to seven years, and “is in the process of getting normalized”, Sanghyun Lee, CEO of activist firm Flashlight Capital Partners told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” Thursday.

This comes after the government’s recent revision to the Commercial Act that was passed in parliament on July 3. The amendment, which expanded the fiduciary duty of board members to protect the interests of minority shareholders, is seen as a way to boost foreign investor confidence.

The amendment changes “the fundamental law that has been the major factor depressing [South Korea’s] stock price,” Lee noted.

Prior to the revision, the board director of a company can lawfully depress the stock price without any consequences, he added. “The new law, which will be enacted very soon, is actually changing the very nature and actual definition of fiduciary duty.”

The benchmark Kospi index was up over 33.16% since the start of the year and it’s price-to-book ratio was 1.07.

— Nicole Teo

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.58% to a record high of 8,689.4 during early trading hours. Year-to-date, the benchmark index as risen 6.62%, data from LSEG showed.

Index heavyweights like mining giant BHP and Rio Tinto are up 1.7% and 1.32% respectively. Biotech firm CSL is up over 1.7%.

Asia markets started the trading day higher. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.39% at the open, while the Topix climbed 0.26% as of 8.02 a.m. local time (8.02 p.m. ET Tuesday).

South Korea’s Kospi added 0.21% and the small-cap Kosdaq was 0.28% higher

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.44%.

— Lee Ying Shan

Japan’s core inflation cooled to 3.3% in June, coming down from a 29-month high of 3.7% as rice inflation showed signs of easing.

The figure — which strips out costs for fresh food — was in line with the 3.3% expected by economists polled by Reuters.

Headline inflation in the country dropped to 3.3%, coming down from 3.5% in May.

The so-called “core-core” inflation rate, which strips out prices of both fresh food and energy and is closely monitored by the BOJ, climbed to 3.4% from 3.3% in the month before.

Read the full story here.

— Lim Hui Jie

Happy Friday from Singapore!

Asia markets were poised to open higher heading into the weekends.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 was set to open higher, with the futures contract in Chicago at 40,105 while its counterpart in Osaka last traded at 40,060, against the index’s last close at 39,901.19.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was also on track to start the day higher with futures tied to the benchmark at 8,650, compared with its last close of 8,639.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 24,674, pointing to a stronger open compared with the HSI’s last close of 24,498.95.

— Lee Ying Shan

The future of three crypto bills in Congress remains uncertain after two days of House Republican infighting over the contents of the legislation and the process for moving it.

Late Wednesday night, the House GOP finally approved the rules of debate for the crypto bills and an adjacent Pentagon appropriations package, allowing consideration for the bills. The vote was the longest-ever in the House.

The three bills in question include one, the GENIUS Act, which passed the Senate in June, and two others that are moving through the House first: The CLARITY Act and a bill that would bar the Federal Reserve from establishing a central bank digital currency.

Bitcoin has been trading at all-time highs in recent days, fueled by optimism on the crypto legislation and the institutional buying of bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

— Erin Doherty, Pia Singh