The Hang Seng Index plunged 404 points, or 1.6%, to close at 24,773 on Thursday (July 31), marking its third consecutive decline and its lowest close in two weeks. Sentiment worsened after China's official PMI showed services activity grew at its slowest pace in eight months and factory output fell the most in six months, amid rising trade barriers and extreme weather. Meanwhile, US President Trump's "reciprocal" tariff suspension is set to expire on Friday, with only eight trade deals reached in the past 120 days. On the monetary front, Fed Chairman Powell dismissed expectations of a...
US stocks fell on Friday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq down 0.7% and the Dow Jones down nearly 500 points, amid a flight to safe havens driven by rising tensions in the Middle East. Israel launched a preemptive strike on Iran, targeting a nuclear facility and vowing to continue operations until the threat is neutralized. Airline stocks fell sharply, with American Airlines down 4.8%, Delta Air Lines down 4.5% and United Airlines down 5%. Megacap technology stocks also fell, including Nvidia (-1.4%), Microsoft (-0.2%), Apple (-0.5%), Amazon (-1%), Meta (-0.4%), Alphabet (-1.1%), and Tesla...
The Hang Seng fell 143 points, or 0.6%, to close at 23,892 on Friday, extending losses for a second session as Wall Street futures slumped and global markets turned red following Israel's military strikes on Iran the previous day. Rising tensions in the Middle East added a new layer of uncertainty to already fragile global markets, which are still under pressure from President Trump's aggressive and unpredictable trade policies. The index moved away from a nearly three-month high, as most sectors declined. The technology index fell 1.7%, led by sharp declines in Horizon Robotics (-4.3%),...
Japan stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Paper & Pulp, Transport and Communication sectors led shares lower. At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.92%. The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Nexon Co Ltd (TYO:3659), which rose 8.37% or 220.00 points to trade at 2,850.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Bandai Namco Holdings Inc (TYO:7832) added 4.34% or 201.00 points to end at 4,829.00 and Aeon Co., Ltd. (TYO:8267) was up 3.85% or 165.00 points to 4,449.00 in late trade. The worst performers of the session were LY Corp (TYO:4689), which...
(Hong Kong) The escalating tensions in the Middle East have impacted the financial markets, with the Hang Seng Index opening lower by 75 points or 0.31%, standing at 23,959 points. Concurrently, the H-share index dropped by 41 points or 0.47%, reaching 8,688 points, while the technology index also experienced a decline of 50 points or 0.95%, settling at 5,280 points. In the tech sector, there was a general softening trend, with Tencent showing a minor increase of 0.1%, while Alibaba witnessed a decrease of 1.5%. Similarly, Meituan fell by 1.2%, Xiaomi Group dropped by 0.5%, and Kuaishou...
Japanese equities slipped on Friday despite Wall Street's gains, driven by cooling US inflation and anticipation of Federal Reserve rate cuts. The Nikkei 225 opened 42.84 points lower at 38,324.93. Investors are awaiting Japan's revised industrial production report for April; the preliminary reading showed a 0.70% increase year-over-year. Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba believes there's a significant gap in trade talks with the US, and he has no immediate timeline for an agreement, according to Bloomberg News on Thursday. This comes ahead of his anticipated meeting with...