TOKYO – Asian stocks fell mostly on Thursday due to the caution of the company’s earnings reports, recent bad trades in technology stocks and prospects for more economic stimulus for a world fighting a pandemic.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 NIK,
decreased 0.5% in early trading, while the South Korean Kospi 180721,
it fell 1.6%. Australia’s S & P / ASX 200 XJO,
slipped 0.6%. Hang Seng HSI in Hong Kong,
lost 1.2%, while the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP,
it decreased by 1%. Stocks have risen in Indonesia JAKIDX,
and Malaysia FBMKLCI,
but falls in Singapore STI,
in Taiwan Y9999,
The market players are also thinking about the global vaccination of vaccines, which is more organized in the US but will still play out in much of Asia except China, where the pandemic began.
“As the rally for the U.S. market slows, Asian markets could be left to their own devices until Thursday’s session, and it appears investors may lock in some of the recent gains,” said Jingyi Pan, a senior market strategist. for IG in Singapore.
Wall Street ends with modest gains, with the S&P 500 SPX,
increased 3.86 points, or 0.1%, to 3,830.17 after swinging between a gain of 0.6% and a loss of 0.3%. The small profit increased the finish line of the benchmark index to a third day.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA,
scored 36.12 points, or 0.1%, to 30,723.60. The technical Nasdaq COMP,
slipped 2.23 points, or less than 0.1%, to 13,610.54. The index was briefly above its everyday high last week.
Energy, communications and financial stocks have helped boost the market. These gains were mainly curbed by declines in companies relying on consumer spending and technology stocks.
GameStop and other recent high-flying stocks posted modest gains on Wednesday. GameStop GME,
increased by 2.7% and AMC AMC,
climbed by 14.7%. The shares have been caught in a speculative frenzy by traders in online forums who want to inflict damage on Wall Street hedge funds betting that the shares would fall. GameStop fell 60% on Tuesday and AMC Entertainment lost 41.2%.
“There’s a tug of war that has been brewing for a week or so now, that the markets are ready for correction and whether last week’s events are a downfall,” said Jamie Cox, managing partner of Harris Financial Group.
Stocks mostly increased this week, an encouraging start to February after a late fade in January, while volatility increased amid concerns over the timing and extent of a further round of stimulus spending by the Biden government, which was uncomfortable is about the effectiveness of the spread of the coronavirus vaccine. and turbulent swings in GameStop and other shares on social media.
This volatility declined this week, with Wall Street focusing primarily on corporate earnings reports, while Washington is watching for signs of progress with a new aid package.
Democrats and Republicans remain far apart over support for President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 billion stimulus package, but investors bet the government will opt for a reconciliation process to get the legislation passed by Congress.
In energy trade, benchmark for US crude oil CLH21,
received 15 cents to 55.84% per barrel. Brent ru BRNJ21,
the international standard, added 6 cents to $ 58.52 a barrel.
In currency trading, the US dollar USDJPY,
dropped to 105.02 Japanese yen from 105.06 yen.