TOKYO/SHANGHAI (Dow Jones)–The East Asian stock markets were mostly slightly up on Wednesday. Participants spoke of reluctance ahead of the eagerly awaited US consumer price report, which will be released after the Asian markets close at around 2:30 p.m. CEST. Forecasts amount to a whopping 8.8 percent annual inflation. Should the number come in at a similar level, it would increase fears of a harsh action by the US Federal Reserve. But other central banks are also tightening interest rates. Two central banks – South Korea’s and New Zealand’s – have each raised their key interest rate by 50 basis points.
Smaller premiums on some stock exchanges such as Seoul (+0.7%) also led participants back to the sharp fall in oil prices the day before, which did not recover significantly on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Asian currencies were consolidated, with the dollar continuing to strengthen against the yen, gaining 0.2 percent. In the wake of recession fears, further losses of Asian currencies against the dollar are expected. The day before, the greenback had reached parity against the euro for the first time since 2002.
On the Japanese market, gains in auto and aviation stocks caused slight increases in the Nikkei 225 of 0.5 percent. Honda Motor rose 2.5 percent and ANA Holdings rose 1.1 percent. With the lighter oil price, Inpex lost 1.7 percent.
Taiwan strong high
The Taiwanese market posted strong gains of 2.7 percent, boosted by the prospect of government intervention to stabilize the market. The Treasury said on Tuesday it had activated its equity stabilization fund, the same day benchmark Taiex index closed at its lowest level since December 2020. It had fallen 25 percent from its peak in January.
In Hong Kong, traders watched a technical recovery after two days of losses. However, the recent banking crisis in rural Henan, China, has raised investor concerns about the impact of the property sector slowdown on the banking system, according to KGI Research.
Concerns about the Covid pandemic and the countermeasures had initially weighed on mainland China until the market crawled slightly into positive territory. It was supported by data showing a 13.2 percent increase in exports for the first half of the year, with foreign trade accelerating in May and June. Real estate sectors were in demand, while banks and mining stocks fell.
In South Korea, airlines and electronics stocks helped the leading index. Institutional investors acted as net buyers after also falling for two days. For the first time, the central bank has announced a key interest rate hike of half a percentage point, thereby joining the aggressive tightening policy of the US central bank and other central banks to combat high inflation. Analysts expect further interest rate hikes.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank of New Zealand has raised interest rates by 50 basis points for the third straight month to curb the highest inflation in decades and announced further interest rate hikes. The key interest rate rose to 2.50 percent. It was the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s sixth hike since October, when it raised interest rates from a record low of 0.25 percent. The leading index NZX-50 closed 0.1 percent higher.
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Index (stock market) last +/- % % YTD end
S&P/ASX 200 (Sydney) 6,621.60 +0.2% -11.1% 08:00
Nikkei-225 (Tokyo) 26,478.77 +0.5% -8.5% 08:00
Kospi (Seoul) 2,334.07 +0.7% -21.6% 08:00
Shanghai Comp. 3,284.29 +0.1% -9.8% 09:00
Hang Seng (Hongk.) 20,891.73 +0.2% -10.9% 10:00
Taiex (Taiwan) 14,324.68 +2.7% -21.4% 07:30
Straits-Times (Sing.) 3,125.49 -0.6% +0.6% 11:00
KLCI (Malaysia) 1,415.54 -0.7% -9.0% 11:00
BSE (Mumbai) 53,940.52 +0.1% -7.4% 12:00
FOREX last +/- % 00:00 Tue, 9:30 % YTD
EUR/USD 1.0036 +0.0% 1.0036 1.0014 -11.7%
EUR/JPY 137.65 +0.2% 137.31 137.47 +5.2%
EUR/GBP 0.8418 -0.3% 0.8442 0.8439 +0.2%
GBP/USD 1.1922 +0.3% 1.1887 1.1866 -11.9%
USD/JPY 137.15 +0.2% 136.84 137.29 +19.1%
USD/KRW 1,305.86 -0.0% 1,306.39 1,314.41 +9.8%
USD/CNY 6.7189 -0.1% 6.7248 6.7341 +5.7%
USD/CNH 6.7251 -0.2% 6.7375 6.7482 +5.8%
USD/HKD 7.8496 -0.0% 7.8500 7.8498 +0.7%
AUD/USD 0.6768 +0.2% 0.6757 0.6725 -6.8%
NZD/USD 0.6131 +0.0% 0.6129 0.6107 -10.2%
Bitcoin
BTC/USD 19,501.88 +0.8% 19,342.92 19,976.63 -57.8%
ROHL last VT-Settl. +/- % +/- USD % YTD
WTI/Nymex 97.02 95.84 +1.2% 1.18 +34.4%
Brent/ICE 100.75 99.49 +1.3% 1.26 +34.5%
GAS VT close +/- EUR
Dutch TTF 0.00 177.40 0% 0.00 +30.0%
METALS last day before +/- % +/- USD % YTD
Gold (Spot) 1,725.40 1,726.16 -0.0% -0.76 -5.7%
Silver (Spot) 19.02 18.93 +0.5% +0.09 -18.4%
Platinum (Spot) 848.75 849.38 -0.1% -0.63 -12.6%
Copper Future 3.28 3.30 -0.4% -0.01 -26.1%
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 13, 2022 03:23 ET (07:23 GMT)
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