SINGAPORE – Japan led losses in Asia-Pacific markets but Hong Kong stocks rose on Thursday after two days of losses on Wall Street.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan fell 1.69%, while Topix fell 1.83%. Shares of Quick retail down 2.84%.
From Hong Kong Hang Seng Index by 0.55% and the Hang Seng technology index by 1.12%. China’s main stocks were mixed. The Shanghai composite rose 0.17%, while Shenzhen Ingredients slip 0.18%.
of Australia S&P / ASX 200 fell by 0.33%.
In Korea, Kospi down 0.98% while Kosdaq fell 1.22%.
Samsung Electronics reported Its operating profit in the first quarter of 2022 could increase by about 50% compared to a year ago. The smartphone and memory chip maker posted an estimated profit of 14.1 trillion won ($11.6 billion), it said in its earnings guide.
The company’s shares fell 0.44%.
Arguably, the drastic balance sheet runaway likely stole the show to provide a much larger hawkish jump to the markets.
Vishnu Varathan
Head of Economic and Strategy Department, Mizuho Bank
Nasdaq and Hong Kong Listed JD.com announced that Xu Lei will succeed founder Richard Liu as the company’s CEO with immediate effect. Liu will remain as chairman of the board, while Xu will be chief executive officer.
Last year, Liu withdrew from daily activities, and Xu were appointed as the chairman of JD. Shares of the Hong Kong-listed company fell 0.43% on Thursday.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.33%.
According to central bank news, the Reserve Bank of India will continue its monetary policy meeting on Thursday.
Overnight in America, Major stock indexes fell on Monday as investors react to the Fed’s direction to tighten monetary policy.
Fed meeting minutes show officials looking for ways shrink its balance sheet by $95 billion per month. Interest rates are also expected to rise faster.
Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank, wrote in a note on Thursday: “Arguably, the balance sheet run is likely to have hit a blow. steal the program to provide a much larger hawkish push to the market.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 144.67 points, or 0.42%, to 34,496.51. The S&P 500 down 0.97% to 4,481.15 and Nasdaq Composite fell another 2.22% to 13,888.82 after falling about 2.3% on Tuesday.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to a three-year high above 2.65% on Wednesday and was last at 2,5695%.
On the economic front, weekly US jobless claims data will be released Thursday morning in the US
Oil rose more than 1%
Both benchmarks for crude were up more than 1% on Thursday morning in Asia.
US crude oil futures rose 1.68% to $97.85 per barrel, while Brent Crude Oil rose 1.84% to $102.93 per barrel.
The US Dollar Indextracks the greenback against a basket of its currencies, last trading at 99.528.
The Japanese yen was trading at 123.64 per dollar, while Australian dollar at $0.7496, slightly weaker than yesterday’s levels.
