Commercial and residential buildings are brightly lit at dawn on Saturday, October 21, 2023, in Seoul, South Korea. Corporate investment.
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Asia-Pacific markets opened mostly higher on Thursday, tracking gains on Wall Street, with all three major stock indexes hitting record highs.
Investors will continue to monitor the political situation in South Korea and France. Less than a day after martial law was declared, South Korean lawmakers filed a motion to impeach President Yoon Seok-yeol.
Meanwhile, French lawmakers on Wednesday by vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government, which is trying to push through a controversial budget bill without parliamentary approval by deploying special constitutional powers.
South Korea released Revised Gross Domestic Product In the third quarter, the economy grew by 0.1% quarterly and 1.5% annually. The figure is the same as the advance estimate.
South Korean stocks opened higher but quickly lost momentum. The Cospi Index fell slightly by 0.39%, and the Kosdaq Index fell by 0.69%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.22%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index rose 0.88% and the Topix Index rose 0.27%.
Hong Kong Hang Seng Index futures were at 19,622 points, lower than the Hang Seng Index’s last closing point of 19,742.46 points.
In the United States on Wednesday, all three major stock indexes hit record highs during the session and closed at record highs, with technology stocks leading the gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 308.51 points, or 0.69%, to 45,014.04 points, breaking through the 45,000 point mark for the first time.
The S&P 500 index rose 0.61% to close at 6086.49 points, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq index rose 1.3% to close at 19,735.12 points.
Stocks rebound as investors digest Fed Chairman Powell’s remarks Wednesday comments The recent strength of the U.S. economy means the Fed can be “a little more cautious.”
Investors are awaiting Friday’s U.S. unemployment report for November, which will provide some insight into the Federal Reserve’s future policy moves. The next interest rate decision is due in two weeks, with markets pricing in about a 78% chance of a quarter-point rate cut by the Federal Open Market Committee, according to the Federal Reserve. CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.
—CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Lisa Kailai Han and Hakyung Kim contributed to this report.
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