Asian stocks were mixed after Wall Street hit its all-time high

Asian Stocks were mixed on Thursday after US stocks neared their record high.

US futures were little changed and oil prices rose.

JapanThe Nikkei 225 index rose 1.7% to 50,705.76 on expectations that the US Federal Reserve will cut its key interest rate next week, while traders speculated on whether the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates this month.

technology And shares of telecom giant SoftBank Group Corp jumped 8.8%.

The government’s 10-year bond yield also rose above 1.9%, its highest since 2007.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index recovered early trading losses and rose 0.2% to 25,816.50, led by gains in technology and consumer shares. The Shanghai Composite Index rose less than 0.1% to 3,879.52.

South Korea’s Kospi index fell 0.7% to 4,008.22, as weakness in technology and automotive shares weighed on the benchmark.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index recovered from losses earlier in the day and ended less than 0.1% at 8,603.20.

Taiwan’s Taiex index fell about 0.3%.

On Wednesday, US stocks neared their record high as mixed data on the economy kept hopes of interest rate cuts intact.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3% to 6,849.72 and came within 0.6% of its all-time high set in late October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9% to 47,882.90 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.2% to 23,454.09.

The biggest jump in the S&P 500 came from Microchip Technology, which jumped 12.2% after saying it expected sales and profits in the final months of the year to come in at the high end of a previously provided forecast range. CEO Steve Sanghi said business is going better than expected and inventory levels are coming down.

Marvell Technology was another winner, gaining 7.9% after the semiconductor products supplier delivered stronger-than-expected profit in the latest quarter.

Stocks largely got a boost from the softening treasure Yields in the bond market. The decline in yields followed a report that suggested U.S. employers outside the government may have cut more jobs than they added in November.

While the surprisingly weak ADP report may discourage job seekers, it also increased expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut its key interest rate next week. If the Fed does so, it would be its third rate cut of the year in hopes of helping the slowing job market.

Investors love low interest rates because they raise prices for investments and can boost the economy.

A separate report on US services sector activity on Wednesday was more encouraging. It said growth at businesses in retail, finance, insurance and other industries was stronger than expected last month.

The survey report by the Institute for Supply Management also said that prices were rising at the slowest rate since April. This is important because the main argument against cutting interest rates is that it could worsen inflation.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.06% from 4.09% late Tuesday.

Low interest rates can drive up prices for all types of investments, and Bitcoin has climbed above $93,000 after a scary decline in recent weeks. Last month it briefly fell below $81,000.

In other deals early Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude oil rose 27 cents to $59.22 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 22 cents to $62.89 a barrel.

The US dollar rose to 155.35 JPY from 155.25 yen. The euro fell to $1.1659 from $1.1672.

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AP Business writers Stan Choe and Matt Ott contributed.