HONG KONG — Asian stock markets were little changed Thursday after two days of selling, with investors treading cautiously after Spain became the third European country this week hit with a downgrade of its debt.
The dollar, meanwhile, gained against the euro and fell against the yen, and oil prices slipped toward $83 a barrel.
The European debt crisis spread Wednesday when Standard & Poor’s lowered its credit rating for Spain amid concerns about the country’s growth prospects following the collapse of a construction bubble. Markets went into a tailspin the day before after S&P slashed its credit ratings on Greece and Portugal. Greece’s debt was cut to junk status.
But sentiment was helped by an overnight gain on Wall Street, where stocks finished higher after the Federal Reserve offered modest reassurances about the world’s largest economy.
The central bank, at the end of a two-day policy meeting, said the labor market is "beginning to improve” and it noted that housing starts have edged up. It expects to keep rates low for an "extended period” to help strengthen the economy.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.1 percent at 20,932.17 and South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.3 percent to 1,729.08.
Shanghai’s market gained 0.5 percent. Elsewhere, Singapore’s index was up 0.6 percent, Taiwan’s market added 0.1 percent and Malaysia’s benchmark was up 0.2 percent.
Japan’s market was closed for a holiday.
In currencies, the dollar traded at 93.87 yen compared to 94.16 yen. The euro fell to $1.3185.
The benchmark oil contract shed 5 cents to $83.17 a barrel in Asian trade.
In Europe Wednesday, markets suffered another a loss as investors held out hope the key actors in the Greek debt drama will soon rescue the debt-laden country. Germany, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank all suggested the bailout agreed to earlier this month would soon be released.
However, with so much uncertainty surrounding Greece and other European nations struggling with high debt loads and deficits, analysts said respite in most markets was unlikely to last.
"Fiscal issues in the eurozone’s periphery will come back to haunt investors, and we have likely not seen the worst of it yet,” Dariusz Kowalczyk, chief investment strategist for SJS Markets in Hong Kong, said in a note.
On Wall Street overnight, the Dow rose 53.28, or 0.5 percent, to 11,045.27.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 7.65, or 0.7 percent, to 1,191.36, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 0.26, or 0.01 percent, to 2,471.73.
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