Asian markets mixed, Seoul up on rate cut

HONG KONG: Asian stocks were mixed on Thursday as markets contemplated higher-than-expected inflation figures out of China, and following another record rise on Wall Street as well as strong gains in European shares.

Seoul was up 0.75 percent after the central Bank of Korea surprisingly shaved the benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points, the first cut for seven months, in a bid to boost exports while Tokyo rose 0.67 percent by the break.

Sydney was flat despite government figures showing Australia's unemployment rate eased to 5.5 percent in April. The numbers beat expectations by creating 50,100 jobs, defying a slowdown in the mining-driven economy.

Hong Kong slid 0.14 percent and Shanghai fell 0.38 percent on the back of data showing that inflation in the world's second-biggest economy accelerated to 2.4 percent in April from 2.1 percent in March.

The consumer price index (CPI) -- a main gauge of inflation -- increased by 0.2 percent month-on-month in April, reversing a decrease of 0.9 percent in March, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement.