TOKYO/HONG KONG (Dow Jones)–The East Asian and Australian stock exchanges once again suffered losses at the beginning of the week. This continued the recent downward trend. The stress factors were the same as before: the continued high level of bond yields and concerns about an escalation of the Middle East conflict. However, there was no further expansion of the conflict over the weekend. Against this background, oil prices extended their losses from Friday. In addition, the industry company Baker Hughes reported an increase in the number of “active” oil production facilities in the USA, which indicates that more oil is being produced in the USA.
The Shanghai Composite recorded the most significant decline, falling by 1.5 percent. Here the losses increased significantly again in late trading. Despite the positive surprise in China’s GDP growth in the third quarter, the country needs further monetary easing due to declining new home sales and falling property prices, analysts at Goldman Sachs said. There was no trading in Hong Kong due to the Chung Yeung Festival holiday instead of.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.8 percent, weighed down by declines in electronics and steel stocks, as concerns continued about higher energy and borrowing costs linked to the Middle East conflict. Advantest shares fell 3.0 percent and Nippon Steel lost 2.3 percent.
The Kospi in Seoul closed the third trading day in a row, losing 0.8 percent. Here, the 24 percent drop in the price of Kiwoom Securities depressed sentiment. The financial services provider reported outstanding receivables of 494 billion won late Friday. Some customer accounts were allegedly linked to a case of share price manipulation that led to the suspension of trading at a local paper manufacturer, it said.
In addition, the shares of individual battery manufacturers were once again subject to levies in Seoul. Samsung SDI fell by 0.2 percent. The trigger was Tesla’s disappointing results last week and export restrictions on required raw materials from China.
Sydney closes at 2023 lowest level
In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.8 percent to close at its lowest level this year. In addition to the weak US specifications, renewed levies on raw material stocks were said to have a particularly negative impact. These recorded losses for the third trading day in a row. The reason given was the continued falling oil prices. The shares of the energy groups Santos, Karoon Energy, Woodside Energy and Beach Energy lost between 2.5 and 4.1 percent. There were also more significant losses in the raw materials sector, with BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue losing between 2.4 and 2.7 percent.
Foxconn Technology shares fell 0.7 percent in Taiwan. The Apple supplier wants to cooperate with Chinese authorities in tax investigations after Chinese state media reported that the contract electronics manufacturer, whose founder is running for the Taiwanese presidency, was the subject of tax and zoning investigations across China.
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Index (stock market) last +/- % % YTD end
S&P/ASX 200 (Sydney) 6,844.10 -0.8% -2.8% 07:00
Nikkei-225 (Tokyo) 30,999.55 -0.8% +19.8% 08:00
Kospi (Seoul) 2,357.02 -0.8% +5.4% 08:00
Shanghai Comp. 2,939.29 -1.5% -4.9% 09:00
Hang-Seng (Hongk.) HOLIDAY
Straits-Times (Sing.) 3,057.65 -0.6% -5.4% 11:00
KLCI (Malaysia) 1,442.11 +0.1% -3.6% 11:00
FOREX last +/- % 00:00 Fri, 9:27 am % YTD
EUR/USD 1.0581 -0.1% 1.0595 1.0572 -1.2%
EUR/JPY 158.63 -0.1% 158.75 158.48 +13.0%
EUR/GBP 0.8706 -0.1% 0.8711 0.8727 -1.6%
GBP/USD 1.2154 -0.1% 1.2160 1.2115 +0.5%
USD/JPY 149.93 +0.1% 149.83 149.91 +14.3%
USD/KRW 1,353.16 +0.1% 1,351.95 1,352.98 +7.2%
USD/CNY 7.1803 +0.0% 7.1787 7.1852 +4.1%
USD/CNH 7.3249 -0.0% 7.3265 7.3372 +5.7%
USD/HKD 7.8253 +0.0% 7.8242 7.8220 +0.2%
AUD/USD 0.6306 -0.1% 0.6316 0.6308 -7.5%
NZD/USD 0.5821 -0.2% 0.5832 0.5824 -8.3%
Bitcoin
BTC/USD 30,681.34 +3.0% 29,785.00 29,271.80 +84.8%
CRUDE OIL most recently VT-Settlem. +/-% +/- USD% YTD
WTI/Nymex 87.08 88.08 -1.1% -1.00 +12.6%
Brent/ICE 91.29 92.16 -0.9% -0.87 +11.7%
METALS last day previous +/- % +/- USD % YTD
Gold (spot) 1,975.79 1,981.23 -0.3% -5.44 +8.3%
Silver (spot) 23.20 23.37 -0.7% -0.16 -3.2%
Platinum (spot) 894.90 900.70 -0.6% -5.80 -16.2%
Copper future 3.53 3.56 -0.9% -0.03 -7.3%
YTD based on the closing price of the previous day
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 23, 2023 03:39 ET (07:39 GMT)