Main Asian Stock Markets Closed with Losses on Thursday

Highlights:

• USA
  The Dow Jones advanced by 0.43% or 152.03 points to 35,609.34 points. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 finished with a rise of 0.37% or 16.56 points to 4,536.19. The Nasdaq lost 0.05% or 7.41 points to 15,121.68.
• ASIA
  The Nikkei dropped by 1.87% or 546.97 points to 28,708.58.
  The Kospi slid by 0.19% or 5.80 points to 3007.33.
  The Hang Seng shed 0.45% or 118.49 points to 26,017.53.
• EUROPE
  The EuroStoxx 50 was trading with a decrease of 0.35%. Meanwhile, the FTSEurofirst 300 yielded 0.26% and the Stoxx 600 shed 0.19% after hitting a six-week high on Wednesday.

Wall Street ends mixed

Two of Wall Street’s indices neared record highs on the NYSE yesterday. The stock market regained confidence—the Dow Jones advanced by 0.43% or 152.03 points to 35,609.34 points. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 finished with a rise of 0.37% or 16.56 points to 4,536.19. The Nasdaq lost 0.05% or 7.41 points to 15,121.68.

Jack Ablin, investment manager at management company Cresset Capital, stated that October is the opposite of September. Market participants realize that the economy is strong. At the same time, interest rates are going up, and stock markets generally fear it. However, they are still well below the expected level. Besides, traders no longer count on a hike in short-term rates as passionately as they did before. 

On Monday, the two-year US government bond rate fell sharply to 1.37% against 1.44%. The 10-year yield stabilized at 1.64%. 

With the first corporate publications over the past ten days, investors are satisfied with balancing out inflationary pressure and supply issues. 

The Fed noted that many companies reported a greater capacity to relay cost increases to consumers despite inflation.

Analysts believe that costs can rise further.

Pinterest soared on Wednesday after Bloomberg reported its possible takeover by the provider of PayPal online payment services. During the session, the stock touched a gain of 18% until it ended up with an advance of 12.77%. Meanwhile, Paypal dropped by 4.91%. 

Netflix slipped by 2.17% even though it delivered better than expected results. Moreover, the net gain of subscribers was 4.4 million, significantly higher than analysts’ expectations.

By sectors, water companies and public services posted the greatest gains while energy companies and financial companies fell significantly. 

Air transportation weighed on the Nikkei

The Nikkei average has fallen sharply for the first time in 3 days. The trading session started with depreciation, and there were some moments when the price was reluctant to go lower. However, at the end of the session, it collapsed due to the weak trend of the Hang Seng and the Dow Jones futures. 

All 33 sectors closed in the negative territory. The air transportation industry, precision equipment, electrical equipment, transportation equipment, and shipping industry posted the highest rate of decline. 

The Softbank group lost 2.05%, and the Japanese automobile leader Toyota Motor yielded 2.36%.

Meanwhile, Lasertec shed 7.16%, and Tokyo Electron slid by 4.61%. 

The textile multinational Fast Retailing lost 2.98%.

Tokyo Electron was the top contributor to the price drop, followed by Fast Retailing. Meanwhile, KDDI increased the most, followed by Fujifilm.

Why didn’t the Korean stock market show a clear direction?

 The Kospi decreased slightly on Thursday due to the effect of individual profit-taking sales despite net buying by institutions and foreigners. 

The Kospi slid by 0.19% or 5.80 points to 3007.33. 

The stock market did not show a clear direction as investors considered issues such as expectations for Q3 earnings, prolonged global inflationary pressure, and the Chinese real estate market.

Among the top 10 stocks on the Kospi, Naver posted the most significant increase, climbing by 0.74%. Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics shed 0.14%, SK Hynix yielded 1.63%. LG Chem plunged by 4.05%, and Samsung Biologics slipped by 0.80%. 

Hyundai Motor, the largest vehicle manufacturer in South Korea, reduced its value by 0.72%.

Textile and apparel, machinery, electricity and gas, banking, and the service sectors registered increases. Meanwhile, chemicals, non-metallic minerals, paper wood, and medical precision sectors posted losses. 

The Hang Seng edged lower 

The Hang Seng closed with losses today. It shed 0.45% or 118.49 points to 26,017.53. The day was marked by the fall of large technology companies and uncertainty among investors due to a slowdown in the Chinese economy.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises lost a slight 0.03%.

Among the sub-indices, the services, finance, and real estate sectors advanced. However, their gains were not enough to offset losses in the commerce and industry sector. Digital leaders experienced significant declines. Meituan shed 1.84%, Alibaba dipped by 1.08%, and Tencent lost 0.79%. The electrical equipment group Techtronic Industries plummeted by 4.04%, and the solar panel manufacturer Xinyi Solar slid by 3.84%. 

As for the gains, Chinese state companies saw profits. The oil company Cnooc edged up by 1.05%. Meanwhile, the telephone operator China Mobile advanced by 0.41%. 

In the real estate sector, Longfor Group had a very successful session, surging by 7.64%. Also, China Overseas added 4.86%.

In the financial industry, insurers closed in mixed territory. Ping An rallied by 7.54%, while AIA fell by 1.1%.

European markets retreated after Wednesday’s rally

The main European stock markets started Thursday’s session with a loss following mixed company results. At the same time, investors returned to worries about the Chinese Evergrande crisis. These fears resurfaced after the heavily indebted real estate group announced the failure of a plan to sell the majority of the capital of a subsidiary. When the group resumed its listing in Hong Kong, it slipped by 12%. 

The EuroStoxx 50 was trading with a decrease of 0.35%. Meanwhile, the FTSEurofirst 300 yielded 0.26%, and the Stoxx 600 shed 0.19% after hitting a six-week high on Wednesday.

The luxury group Hermès advanced by 0.50% after publishing a growth of 31.2% of its quarterly sales. At the same time, the distributor Carrefour expanded by 1.10% after the publication of third-quarter results in line with expectations. 

Soitec climbed by 5.6% after raising its annual forecast.