Asia Pacific Stock Market Update | Wilnesh News

Singapore – Hong Kong Hang Seng Index Stocks rose more than 6% on Wednesday, rising for a sixth consecutive session and hitting a 22-month high on further optimism about Beijing’s latest stimulus policies.

Property developers drove much of the gains on Tuesday as traders returned from a public holiday. Vanke, Longfor Group and the Logan Group The gains were in the lead, exceeding 40%, 32% and 31% respectively. Chinese tech giants are also on the rise Meituan, Baidu JD.com’s gains exceeded 10%.

Markets in mainland China were closed on Wednesday due to the Golden Week holiday and will remain closed for the rest of the week. Chinese stocks rose to their best day in 16 years on Monday after Beijing announced a series of stimulus measures last week, including cutting interest rates, lowering bank reserve requirements and providing more liquidity to investors.

Overall, Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Wednesday morning after a poor start to the trading month on Wall Street, with major stock indexes falling on rising tensions in the Middle East.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.2%. South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.8% and the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.1%. Japanese Nikkei 225 Index It fell 2.4%, with the Topix falling 1.6%.

Japan’s new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba was elected leader of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party last week and took office on Tuesday. He succeeds Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who formally resigned earlier in the day.

Some analysts said Ishiba’s appointment may give the Bank of Japan more room to further raise interest rates. Japanese stocks fell on Monday before recovering slightly on Tuesday as investors digested the news.

However, newly appointed Economy Minister Yoshihide Akazawa said on Wednesday that Ishiba expects the central bank to carefully assess the economy before raising interest rates again. According to Reuters.

“Our top priority is to ensure that Japan completely escapes deflation,” Akazawa told reporters, adding that would take some time. While Ishiba has previously commented on the need to normalize monetary policy, Akazawa said those statements “come with various strings attached.”

In individual stock news, Mitsubishi Motors Mitsubishi Motors North America shares rose 4.6% after the company reported a 22.1% sales increase Year-to-date sales Compared with the same period last year. Mitsubishi Electric rose 1%.

Asian traders are assessing consumer inflation data from South Korea. of the country consumer price index Data on Wednesday morning showed that the economy grew at an annual rate of 1.6% in September, below expectations of economists polled by Reuters, who had expected growth of 1.9%. The month-on-month growth was 0.1%, lower than the 0.4% increase last month and the 0.3% expected by economists.

according to a S&P Global Survey Data on Wednesday showed South Korea’s factory activity shrank at the fastest pace in 15 months in September as overseas demand slowed for the first time this year. The Manufacturers Purchasing Managers’ Index was 48.3 in September, down from 51.9 a month ago.

Overnight, the United States The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 173 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell 0.93% and 1.53% respectively. Oil prices and the CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) surged as Iran fired ballistic missiles at Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Iran’s missile attack Defeated and vowed revenge. “Iran made a big mistake tonight and it will pay the price,” he said, according to NBC News, adding that “the Iranian regime does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies.” .

Economist Stephen Roach warned on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Wednesday that conflicts in the Middle East pose upward risks to oil prices and inflation. He also said the Fed may need to reconsider further easing monetary policy.

Meanwhile, U.S. investors are looking ahead to Friday’s September jobs report. The U.S. economy created slightly fewer jobs than expected in August, reflecting a slowing labor market.

“If there’s a regional conflict in the Middle East and it happens at a time when unemployment is rising in the U.S., the market really doesn’t know where to turn,” Roach said, adding that such a scenario could lead to wild market swings.

—CNBC’s Brian Evans and Alex Harring contributed to this report.