Hong Kong's stock market was under pressure again at the start of the week as investors remained cautious ahead of the release of US September non-farm payrolls (NFP) data on Thursday—the first significant data since the 43-day government shutdown. Uncertainty about the Federal Reserve's interest rate direction dampened risk appetite. The Hang Seng Index fell 0.7%, extending its 1.9% decline from Friday, while Hang Seng Tech fell 0.6%. The biggest pressure came from technology and travel stocks, including Trip.com, which fell 3.9%, Baidu, which fell 2.1%, and WuXi AppTec, which fell 2.7%....
Japanese stocks declined on Tuesday (April 11th), following a sharp rise earlier. The Nikkei index fell 0.5%, reaching 52,136.68, with the retail and technology sectors leading the losses. Aeon Co. shares fell 4.6%, while Recruit Holdings fell 3.6%, indicating profit-taking after a period of significant gains. Despite the Japanese market's decline, investors are still paying close attention to policy developments from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Policy measures taken by the Japanese government could provide further clues about the direction of the country's economy. Investors are still...
Asian stocks opened lower on Tuesday, reversing Wall Street's rally fueled by Amazon's massive $38 billion deal with OpenAI. Stock markets in South Korea and Japan weakened after a long holiday, while Australian stocks fell ahead of central bank interest rate decisions that are expected to remain unchanged. Although the S&P 500 posted a small gain on Monday, more than 300 of its members declined. In other markets, the US dollar strengthened slightly, while gold fell 0.2%. The Japanese yen also weakened. Major tech deals from Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet have given Wall Street renewed...
The S&P 500 rose on Monday, led by tech, as a new month of trading began. The benchmark gained 0.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 18 points. Micron Technology gained 5% to lead chipmaker stocks higher. Nvidia and AMD were up 3% and around 1%, respectively. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) climbed 1.6%. Other tech names such as Meta Platforms and Palantir gained 1.2% and 2%, respectively. The moves came after data center company Iren reached a multiyear $9.7 billion deal with Microsoft to provide the megacap technology company...
European stocks opened slightly higher in November, with the STOXX 50 and STOXX 600 gaining 0.2%, after closing near record highs in October. Investors continued to digest recently released corporate earnings while awaiting new market catalysts. Bank and automaker stocks posted gains, with Unicredit, BBVA, Deutsche Bank, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW all rising more than 1%. BP rose 1.5% after agreeing to sell a stake in its US shale assets to Sixth Street for $1.5 billion. Nokia shares rose nearly 4%. Conversely, Ryanair fell nearly 2% despite posting slightly better-than-expected profit after...
The Hang Seng Index surged 252 points, or 1%, to close at 26,158 on Monday, reversing losses from the previous three sessions amid broad sector gains. Sentiment was boosted by the US-China trade truce, which includes US tariff reductions and the suspension of Beijing's new export restrictions on rare earth minerals and magnets. The US is also expected to suspend port fees for a year for ships connected to China starting next week. Local data supported the rally, with Hong Kong's economy growing 3.8% year-on-year in Q3, the fastest since late 2023, while retail sales rose 4.8% in September,...