Australia stocks rise over 1%, crossing 9,000 threshold for the first time

Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose, with Australian stocks among the top gainers, breaking ranks with key Wall Street peers that saw declines led by tech stocks.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 benchmark rose 1.13% to end the day at a record high of 9,019.1. Gains were led by food company OMG Group, which surged 114.29%, printing and technology firm 333D, which jumped 55.56% and battery technology manufacturer Janus Electric Holdings, which rose 46.47%.

Over in India, the HSBC Composite flash purchasing managers’ index, which provides an early snapshot of the performance of the private sector economy, came in at 65.2, higher than July’s 61.1 and the 60.5 forecast by Reuters.

Indian markets rose in early trade with the benchmark Nifty 50 trading 0.21% higher, while the BSE Sensex index was up 0.35% as of 1:30 p.m. Indian Standard Time (4 a.m. ET).

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell for the third straight session and ended the day 0.65% lower at 42,610.17. Losses were led by Daiichi Sankyo, Socionext and Lasertec Corp.

Meanwhile, the broader Topix index dropped 0.52% to 3,082.95.

Yields on Japan’s 20-year government bonds rose to 2.645%, after hitting a 26-year high earlier in the session. Yields on the 10-year government bonds ticked up to a 17-year high of 1.61%.

In South Korea, the Kospi index pared earlier gains to rise 0.37% at 3,141.74, while the small-cap Kosdaq was flat at 777.24.

Mainland China’s CSI 300 increased by 0.39% to 4,288.07, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 0.22% to 25,109.43.

Shares of tech major Baidu fell as much as 5% after its total revenue of 32.71 billion yuan ($4.56 billion) during the three months ended June 30 fell 3.7% from the same period a year earlier. Analysts on average had estimated quarterly revenue at 32.76 billion yuan, according to data compiled by LSEG.

U.S. equity futures were little changed in early Asia hours.

Overnight stateside, two of the three key benchmarks ended the session in declines as tech stocks dragged the market lower.

The broad market S&P 500 index slipped 0.24% to close at 6,395.78, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 0.67% and settled at 21,172.86. Wednesday marked a fourth day of losses for the S&P 500 and a second negative session for the Nasdaq.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was the outlier, adding 16.04 points, or 0.04%, and settling at 44,938.31.

— CNBC’s Yun Li, Pia Singh and Alex Harring contributed to this report.