Stocks in Asia-Pacific Strengthened Their Positions
Stocks in Asia-Pacific demonstrated their strength on Thursday, with Hong Kong stocks leading gains.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 2.41% by Thursday afternoon, as shares of tech giants Tencent and Alibaba rose 3.45% and 5.54%, respectively.
Shares of Chinese Estates listed in Hong Kong jumped more than 30%. On Wednesday, Chinese Estates announced that it received an offer to be taken private. Its announcement helped to boost its shares on Thursday.
The broader real estate sector also strengthened its position, with the Hang Seng Properties Index jumping around 2%.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.93%, while the Topix index added 0.22%. South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.73% while Taiwan’s Taiex advanced 1.83%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.63%.
Mainland Chinese markets are still closed for the holidays.
U.S. stocks on Wednesday
U.S. stocks staged a comeback on Wednesday as investors grew optimistic regarding a debt ceiling deal as well as bought into tech stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 102.32 points to 34,416.99. The S&P 500 rose 0.4% to 4,365.55 after declining 1.27% at its session low. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.5% to 14,501.91, after dropping as much as 1.2%.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell made an interesting comment during a closed meeting with Republicans. He stated that he would offer a short-term debt ceiling extension later on Wednesday. His position affected stocks on Wednesday.
The stopgap offerer from Senate Minority Leader would take some pressure off from both parties to reach a compromise by October 18. Members of the Republican and Democratic parties clashed in recent weeks over how best to raise or suspend the federal borrowing limit.
Importantly, investors bought the dip in some key tech stocks. Microsoft gained 1.5%, Nvidia added 1.2% and Amazon advanced 1.3%. Google’s parent company Alphabet also added 1.1%. All FANG stocks closed in the green on Wednesday.
In the meantime, some stocks tied to the economic reopening drifted lower. JetBlue and American Airlines fell 2.7% and 4.3%, respectively, following a downgrade by Goldman Sachs. It cited higher fuel prices as well slower near-term demand.
This month continued its volatility on Wednesday amid concerns about rising rates, higher inflation, etc. In the three previous trading sessions of October, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 483 points, lost 324 points. Two days ago it jumped 312 points and on Wednesday the Dow swung more than 550 points.
