Asian Markets Mirror Global Weakness

Asian stock markets are mostly lower on Thursday, following the broadly negative cues overnight from the global markets, as traders are digesting comments from JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, warning of an economic “hurricane” amid soaring inflation, global slowdown and the prospects of aggressive monetary tightening by global central banks. Rising bond yields and soft economic data also weighed on the markets. Asian Markets closed mixed on Wednesday.

The latest economic readings from the U.S. proved to be a mixed bag, with job openings declining from record level, while U.S. manufacturing activity unexpectedly accelerated in May.

The Australian stock market is significantly lower on Thursday, giving up all the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 7,200 level, following the broadly negative cues overnight from the global markets, with weakness in technology and financial stocks. Traders are digesting comments from JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, warning of an economic “hurricane.”

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 73.80 points or 1.02 percent to 7,160.20, after hitting a low of 7,152.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 76.10 points or 1.02 percent to 7,386.80. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are losing almost 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is declining more than 2 percent. Fortescue Metals and OZ Minerals are gaining almost 1 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Origin Energy is losing almost 1 percent and Santos is declining almost 2 percent, while Woodside Energy is gaining almost 5 percent. Beach energy is flat.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is plunging more than 6 percent, WiseTech Global is down 2.5 percent and Appen is declining almost 1 percent, while Xero and Zip are losing almost 3 percent each.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank is losing more than 1 percent and Commonwealth Bank is down almost 2 percent, while ANZ Banking and Westpac are declining almost 1 percent each.

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources and Newcrest Mining are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Evolution Mining is up more than 1 percent and Gold Road Resources is edging up 0.4 percent. Resolute Mining is losing almost 2 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.716 on Thursday.

The Japanese stock market is modestly lower on Thursday, giving up some of the gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 27,400 mark, following the broadly negative cues overnight from the global markets, as traders digested comments from JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, warning of an economic “hurricane” amid soaring inflation and the prospects of aggressive monetary tightening by global central banks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 27,411.58, up 46.31 points or 0.17 percent, after hitting a low of 27,251.24 earlier. Japanese stocks closed significantly higher on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing almost 1 percent and Toyota is edging down 0.4 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings and Advantest are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Tokyo Electron is edging up 0.2 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are losing almost 1 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging down 0.2 percent.

Among the major exporters, Sony is losing almost 3 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric and Canon are edging down 0.4 percent each. Panasonic is edging up 0.5 percent.

Among the other major losers, Astellas Pharma is losing almost 4 percent, while Trend Micro and Fujitsu are down more than 3 percent each. M3, CyberAgent and Unitika are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Taiyo Yuden is surging almost 6 percent and Konica Minolta is gaining almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 130 yen-range on Thursday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong is up 1.4 percent, while New Zealand, China, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are lower by between 0.2 and 1.0 percent each. Indonesia is bucking the trend and is up 0.2 percent.

On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Wednesday before ending the day mostly lower. With the decrease on the day, the major averages extended the pullback seen in the previous session.

The major averages climbed well off their worst levels in afternoon trading but still closed in negative territory. The Dow fell 176.89 points or 0.5 percent to 32,813.23, the Nasdaq declined 86.93 points or 0.7 percent to 11,994.46 and the S&P 500 slid 30.92 points or 0.8 percent to 4,101.23.

The major European markets also all moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index dipped 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.8 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index slumped by 1 percent.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Wednesday, lifted by the European Union’s decision to impose a phased ban on Russian oil, and hopes about increased energy demand from China. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August were up $0.59 at $115.26 a barrel.

Source: Read Full Article