Most Asia-Pacific markets including India shut for Labour Day; Nikkei trades higher

Asian markets today: After a choppy session in the US markets, following weak GDP data for the first quarter, Japanese and Australian markets traded mixed on Thursday (May 1, 2025). Regional markets are reacting to overnight swings on Wall Street, sparked by worries of a possible recession in the world's most developed economy.

Most of the Asia-Pacific markets, including Hong Kong, South Korea, India and China are closed for the Labour Day holiday.

The key MSCI Asia ex Japan index traded with a cut of 0.18 per cent or 1.03 at 579.99.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 was up by 0.68 per cent while the broader also traded with a positive bias, up over 0.2 per cent. Meanwhile, in Australia-, the S&P/ASX 200 benchmark was down 0.01 per cent.

The country’s central bank is widely expected to stay put on interest rates at 0.5 per cent and reduce its GDP estimates in its two-day monetary policy meeting, which concludes later today.

The data released Wednesday showed that the US economy contracted unexpectedly in the first quarter, with the gross domestic product shrinking by 0.3 per cent in the March quarter on an annualised basis. This is even as economists anticipated a meagre expansion by 0.2 per cent.

In the fourth quarter, the US economy's GDP grew by 2.4 per cent.

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