Global Markets:
- Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei up 0.80%, Shanghai Composite up 0.10%, Hang Seng down 0.07%, ASX down 0.78%
- Commodities : Gold at $1961.25 (-0.23%), Silver at $23.81 (-0.23%), Brent Oil at $89.95 (-0.17%), WTI Oil at $86.55 (-0.16%)
- Rates : US 10-year yield at 4.253, UK 10-year yield at 4.549, Germany 10-year yield at 2.615
News & Data:
- (EUR) PPI m/m -0.5% vs -0.5% expected
- (USD) Factory Orders -2.1% vs -2.5% expected
Markets Update:
On Thursday, the Asia-Pacific markets displayed a mixed performance, reacting to Saudi Arabia and Russia’s decision to extend their voluntary oil production cuts until the end of the year.
Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese property firms, led by Evergrande, experienced a remarkable surge, with Evergrande alone soaring by over 70%. This surge propelled the Hang Seng Property Index up by 4%. However, the broader Hang Seng index dipped by 0.07%, extending the losses observed earlier in the week. Meanwhile, mainland Chinese markets also faced a decline, with the CSI 300 index dropping by 0.7%.
The price of Brent crude futures reached $90.04 per barrel, crossing the $90 threshold for the first time since November. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures hovered near $86.69 per barrel, marking a 10-month high.Saudi Arabia’s announcement on Wednesday confirmed an extension of its oil production cut by 1 million barrels per day until December, while Russia stated its commitment to reduce oil exports by 300,000 barrels per day.
In other parts of Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index saw a gain of 0.80%, mirroring the Topix index’s performance. In contrast, South Korea’s Kospi index experienced a 0.62% decline, but the Kosdaq managed to climb by 0.25%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index recorded a loss of 0.78% despite the country’s second-quarter gross domestic product growth of 2.1% year-on-year, slightly surpassing economist expectations as reported by Reuters.
Turning to the U.S., the previous night saw all three major indexes posting losses due to concerns about rising crude oil prices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased by 0.56%, the S&P 500 dropped by 0.42%, and the Nasdaq Composite experienced a marginal decline of 0.08%.
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