Stock market today: Asian shares are mixed after Wall Street breaks losing streak
BANGKOK– Asian stocks were mixed on Tuesday after US equities closed broadly higher as shares of major technology companies recovered some of their recent sharp declines.
US futures fell slightly and oil prices were little changed.
The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo closed virtually unchanged at 39,594.39.
Chinese markets fell, with the Hang Seng in Hong Kong down 0.9% to 17,471.79. The Shanghai Composite index fell 1.7% to 2,915.37.
China’s central bank cut two key interest rates by 10 basis points on Monday, as it seeks to ease lending and boost the economy. The move follows a key policy meeting by the ruling Communist Party that focused on long-term reforms.
The People’s Bank of China also lowered the collateral requirement for its medium-term loan and cut the interest rate on its fixed-term loan by 10 basis points to 2.7% for seven-day loans and 3.05% for one-month loans.
But recent developments have so far failed to motivate markets to take more ambitious near-term measures to stimulate faster growth.
“Size matters. And of course, a 10 (basis point) cut is not exactly inspiring. Certainly not anywhere near a ‘big gun’ stimulus, which is arguably what the economy needs,” Mizuho Bank said in a commentary.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.4% to 2,774.29, while the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.5% to 7,971.10.
Taiwan’s Taiex rose 2.8%, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest maker of computer chips, rose 4.3%, rebounding from recent losses on renewed optimism about the promise of artificial intelligence.
In Bangkok, the SET fell 1%.
Corporate earnings reports and economic growth in the US could capture the market’s attention this week. Analysts expect companies in the S&According to FactSet, P 500 will post the strongest quarterly profit growth since late 2021.
In addition to Alphabet and Tesla, dozens of other major US companies are set to report their latest quarterly results this week, including Coca-Cola, Ford and American Airlines.
Monday is the S&P500 rose 1.1% to 5,564.41, snapping a three-day losing streak. It was the benchmark index’s first gain since hitting a record high on July 16.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% to 40,415.44, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.6% to 18,007.57.
The gains were broad-based, with more than three-quarters of the stocks in the S&P500 closed higher, although technology stocks accounted for much of the rally.
Nvidia rose 4.8% and other Big Tech stocks rose. They had sputtered amid criticism that they had become too expensive after soaring so high and Wall Street to records. Two of them, Alphabet and Tesla, are scheduled to report on Tuesday how much they gained in a major test this spring. Alphabet rose 2.3% and Tesla gained 5.1%.
Treasury yields rose mainly in the bond market after President Joe Biden said he will not seek re-electionThe move could reverse some of the market’s “Trump trade,” which was triggered after Biden’s weak performance in a debate last month raised expectations of a victory for former President Donald Trump.
Delays at airports continued on Monday after massive disruptions caused by a global technology outage which seemed to have been largely resolved over the weekend.
According to cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, the suspected issue behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack, but rather the company had implemented a fix for a defective update that had been sent to computers running Microsoft Windows.
CrowdStrike’s Shares fell again on Monday by 13.5%, after already falling by 11.1% on Friday.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.26% from 4.24% Friday night. Short-term yields were relatively stable. The two-year yield was unchanged at 4.52%, where it stood Friday night.
Other corners of the market, which could have been shaken by uncertainty surrounding the November election after Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, also remained largely silent.
The US dollar was relatively stable, falling from 157.04 yen Monday night to 156.49 Japanese yen Tuesday morning. The euro fell from 1.0891 to 1.0878 dollars.
In energy trading, U.S. benchmark crude rose 1 cent to $78.41 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, rose 7 cents to $82.47 a barrel.