Market Analytics and Considerations
Key Notes
Tuesday saw a decline throughout most Asian stock markets as a recent rally spurred by anticipation for a Chinese reopening fizzled and traders turned wary advance of any hints regarding U.S. financial regulation from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite indexes in China both decreased by 0.1percentage points and 0.2%, but the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong dipped by 0.2% from a more than 6 peak. Major technology stock jumped on news that China will end its regulatory battle against by the biggest online firms in the country, limiting losses in the 3 indices.
However, as China confronts its worst COVID-19 epidemic yet despite relaxing most anti-COVID policies, traders have become apprehensive about a near-term economic rebound in the country.
The country’s second economy’s benchmark indices in China, however, continued to hover towards multi-month peaks after marking a remarkable rebound in Dec.
In general, Asian markets became more apprehensive ahead of Powell’s speech, while attention focused on possible changes in the Fed Chair’s fiery rhetoric, particularly in the wake of recent data readings that suggested lowering inflationary expectations. The U.S. consumer inflation figures for Dec, which are being carefully monitored this week, are anticipated to reflect a further decrease in cost pressures.
One of the occasional exceptions on Tuesday was the Nikkei 225 index of Japan, which increased 0.7percentage points in catch-up trading after a lengthy weekend. However, higher-than-anticipated inflation readings from Tokyo for Dec signaled that the nation’s economy will continue to suffer as it confronts rising protectionist pressures and a depreciating yen.
Almost 6percentage – point growth in shares of the world’s largest commodity trading company, Olam Group Limited, helped Singapore stocks jump (SGX:OLAG). After Olam announced that it would float its agriculture company in Saudi Arabia by at latest June 2023, the shares rose to a pace not seen in more than 5 months.
