By
Steve Muchoki
April 16th, 2024
Just like the positive bullish growth in the rest of the Asian Pacific market outside of China and Hong Kong, the United States stock market also ended its last trading session in the green.
The Asia Pacific market is showing mixed performances on Monday as the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index (INDEXHANGSENG: HSI) is leading losses in China. The index is down 6.26% after shedding more than 1,000 points to close at 15,195.79. The Hang Seng Tech Index even recorded a steeper loss at 9% on Monday.
The performance of the stock market in mainland China was not in any way different, however, losses were tapered down. The Shanghai Composite Index (SHA: 000001) recorded a steep loss of 2.02% and topped 2,977.56. The Shenzhen Component Index (SHE: 399001) did not fare any better and traded in a bearish way around a similar valuation slump to 10,694.61.
Notably, the drop in Chinese and Hong Kong markets is fueled by a wide range of factors spanning both domestic and foreign influences. According to Tai Hui, JPMorgan Asset Management’s APAC chief market strategist, one of these factors is the growing US Treasury Yields.
Also, Tai noted that the recently concluded political conference of the Communist Party of China featured mostly personnel changes with no notable economic policies announced.
“Since the meeting is mostly about personnel changes, the economic recovery might not come as soon as we have hoped,” Tai told CNBC in an email.
The rest of the Asia Pacific recorded more impressive gains compared to China and Hong Kong. The S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: XJO), the market-capitalization weighted and float-adjusted stock market index of stocks listed on the Australian Securities Exchange surged by 1.54% to 6,779.40.
The KOSPI (KRX: KOSPI) index in South Korea also came off with impressive gains, adding 1.04% to 2,236.16 while Japan’s Nikkei 225 (INDEXNIKKEI: NI225) saw a 0.31% growth to 26,974.90. The markets in Singapore, India, and Malaysia were all closed on Monday for a public holiday. Notably, the Bank of Japan has a scheduled meeting for this week, while the Central Banks of Australia and Singapore are expected to hike interest rates on account to taper down soaring inflation.
Hong Kong Hang Seng Losses, US Markets Gain
Just like the positive bullish growth in the rest of the Asian Pacific market outside of China and Hong Kong, the United States stock market also ended its last trading session in the green.
The S&P 500 Index (INDEXSP: .INX) recorded a 2.37% growth on Friday to end the session at 3,752.75. The 30-stock index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX: .DJI) also recorded a unique growth and was up 2.47% to 31,082.56. The Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ: .IXIC) closed the week on a positive note with a 2.31% growth on Friday to 10,859.72.
The US stock market growth took precedence from reported news from the Wall Street Journal that some Federal Reserve officials are looking at halting their hawkish interest rate hike move. With inflation for September pegged at 8.2%, the general expectations had been that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will announce at least another 75 basis point hike.
The growth seen across the board may be attributed to the impressive earnings report from Wall Street and with more big names set to report this week, a positive performance can help the market sustain its bullish moves.