Stock market today: Asian shares slide, with Korean benchmark down 2.5%, after Wall St hits records
BANGKOK– Shares were mainly lower in Asia on Monday That of South Korea benchmark fell 2.3% after US stocks closed with more records last week.
The impact on global markets of the overthrow of Syrian leader Bashar Assad, who sought asylum in Moscow after rebels ended the Assad’s family 50 years of iron rule remained unclear. Oil prices were mixed, while U.S. futures headed lower.
The political situation in South Korea remained tense as local media reported that police were considering imposing a ban on travel abroad President Yoon Suk Yeol. Yoon’s status remained uncertain after he declared martial law last week in the midst of a budget dispute and reversed it hours later.
Seoul’s Kospi fell 2.3% to 2,372.02.
Chinese shares also fell, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 0.6% to 19,753.26 and the Shanghai Composite index down 0.4% to 3,390.62. Investors are waiting for one major economic planning meeting This week it is expected to set the policy agenda for the coming months and potentially give new impetus to the world’s second-largest economy.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index rose 0.2% to 39,161.10, while the Japanese yen gained against the US dollar. The dollar was trading at 149.94 yen early Monday, down from 150.07 yen. Traders increasingly expect the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates to counter the yen’s prolonged slump against the dollar and keep price increases in check.
In Australia the S&The P/ASX 200 fell 0.2% to 8,400.80. India’s Sensex fell 0.1% lower, while Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.4%. In Bangkok, the SET fell 0.3%.
On Friday, US stocks rose to records after data suggested the the labor market remains solid enough to keep the economy going, but not so much that it immediately raises concerns inflation.
The S&The P500 climbed 0.2% to 6,090.27, just enough to record another record high, capping a third straight winning week in what looks to be one of his best years since the dot-com bust in 2000. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% to 44,642.52, while the Nasdaq index rose 0.8% to set its own record of 19,859.77.
The jobs report reinforced traders’ expectations that the Federal Reserve will do the same lower interest rates again at the next meeting in two weeks. It showed that American employers hired more workers than expected last month, but also that the unemployment rate unexpectedly rose from 4.1% to 4.2%.
The Fed has been to relax the key interest rate from a 20-year high since September, to provide more aid to the slowing labor market after inflation fell almost all the way back to the 2% target. Lower interest rates can ease the brakes on the economy, but can also provide more fuel for inflation.
The S&P500 is set a record high of 57 times so far this year.
For now, the hope is that the labor market can help American shoppers keep spending and keep their money US economy out of recession that seemed earlier unavoidable after the Fed began rapidly raising rates to suppress inflation.
Retailers are generally sending mixed signals about how resilient American shoppers can remain amid the slowing labor market and still-high prices. Goal for example, gave a gloomy forecast for the Christmas shopping season Walmart gave a much more encouraging picture.
A report on Friday suggested sentiment among U.S. consumers may improve more than economists expected. Preliminary results from the University of Michigan study reached their highest level in seven months. The research found that there was an increase in purchases for some products as consumers tried to avoid possible price increases as a result higher rates who has threatened newly elected President Donald Trump.
In technology, Hewlett Packard Enterprise rose 10.6% for one of the S&The P500’s bigger gains after reporting stronger-than-expected earnings and revenue. Technology stocks were among the market’s strongest this week as Salesforce and other major companies talked about the huge boost they’re getting from the artificial intelligence tree.
In other trades early Friday, Bitcoin then sat near $99,600 crack above $103,000, a record the day before.
U.S. benchmark crude rose 31 cents to $67.51 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 7 cents to $71.05 a barrel.
The euro fell from $1.0561 to $1.0537.