Asian markets were trading lower Thursday morning following an overnight decline in the US stocks, while investors assess the key economic data in the region.
Bets of the US Federal Reserve rate hike increased after a surprise increase by the Bank of Canada that increased its overnight rate to a 22-year high of 4.75%. It comes after the Reserve Bank of Australia earlier this week also hiked interest rates by another 25 basis points.
In Asia, Japan’s economy grew an annualised 2.7% in the first quarter, much higher than the initial estimate for a 1.6% expansion, revised government data showed on Thursday, driven by robust business spending, Reuters reported.
The Reserve Bank of India is also set to announce its bi-monthly monetary policy later today. The RBI is widely expected to keep the repo rate unchanged at 6.5%.
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Asian Markets
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened 0.12% higher, while the Topix rose 0.26%.
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.23% in early trade, while the Kosdaq declined 0.43%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures were down by around 136 points at 19,116.
SGX Nifty was trading marginally higher at 18,821, indicating a flat start for Indian indices.
US Market
The S&P 500 fell 0.4% to 4,267.52, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3% to close at 33,665.02. The Nasdaq composite ended 1.3% lower at 13,104.89.
Europe
European stocks declined on Wednesday led by losses in healthcare stocks. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.2%.
Britain’s FTSE 100 fell less than 0.1% to 7,624.34, while Germany’s DAX lost 0.2% to 15,960.56. France CAC 40 was down less than 0.1% at 7,202.79, while Spain’s IBEX 35 index rose 0.5% to close at a six-week high.
Energy
Crude oil prices traded flat as investors weighed demand concerns over a global economic slowdown against an expected fall in supply from Saudi output cuts, Reuters reported.
Brent crude futures eased 0.08% to $76.89 a barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate crude futures was flat at $72.63 a barrel.
Gold price today
Gold prices rose, rebounding from previous session’s losses, while investors cautiously awaited the upcoming Federal Reserve policy meeting after the Bank of Canada raised rates to a 22-year high.
Spot gold rose 0.3% to $1,945.60 per ounce, while US gold futures held steady at $1,960.10.
Currencies
The dollar was on the back foot, though it drew some support from higher US Treasury yields as traders contemplated the possibility of another rate hike by the US Federal Reserve, even if it pauses next week.
The U.S. dollar index dipped slightly to 104.02. Against the yen, the greenback slipped 0.21% to 139.85. The Chinese offshore yuan was pinned near a more than six-month low at 7.1469 per dollar.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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Updated: 08 Jun 2023, 07:19 AM IST