chachamal
Asia-Pacific equity markets were mostly in red on Thursday as market participants reassessed the outlook for Bank of Japan monetary policy in light of a sharp yen depreciation, which sank to a 38-year low.
Japan (NKY:IND) -0.85%. Japan’s May retail sales rose more than expected; yen sinks to 38-year low vs dollar. The yen depreciated past 160 per dollar, hitting its weakest levels since 1986 and keeping Japanese authorities under pressure to defend the currency. The strong retail sales data and a sharply weakening yen raised bets that the Bank of Japan could raise interest rates at its July meeting.
China (SHCOMP) -0.55%. Chinese markets fell to a 4-month low, giving up gains from the prior session, amid caution ahead of official PMI figures and growing chip tensions between China and the US.
China’s industrial profits rose much softer in May, with growth for the first 5 months of the year also weakening.
Hong Kong (HSI) -1.92%.
India (SENSEX) +0.18%. The BSE Sensex continued its upside momentum, boosted by optimism surrounding the Union Budget 2024-2025, increasing foreign inflow, and robust domestic economic data.
Australia (AS51) -0.73%. Consumer inflation expectations in Australia increased to 4.4% in June 2024 from May’s 2-1/2 year low of 4.1%.
In the U.S., on Wednesday, all three major indexes ended a choppy session slightly higher as investors held back from making significant bets ahead of the key PCE report due later in the week.
U.S. stock futures fell on Thursday: Dow -0.13%; S&P 500 -0.20%; Nasdaq -0.25%.
Market participants now look ahead to US jobless claims, durable goods orders, and pending home sales data on Thursday, along with Friday’s PCE inflation report.
Key events, such as the first US presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump on Thursday and the French elections on Sunday, are also in the spotlight.
Meanwhile, an escalating conflict in the Middle East, with brewing tensions between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, as well as Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil infrastructure continued to stoke supply disruption fears in the market.
Currencies: (JPY:USD), (CNY:USD), (AUD:USD), (INR:USD), (HKD:USD), (NZD:USD).
