Tech shares likely to spur Taiwan stock market
The Taiwan stock market on Tuesday ended the two-day slide in which it had plunged almost 650 points or 4 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 16,060-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Wednesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is mostly higher, with bargain hunting limited by concerns about economic growth and interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference. The TSE finished slightly higher on Tuesday following gains from the technology stocks, weakness from the cement companies and a mixed picture from the financials. For the day, the index rose 12.78 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 16,061.70 after trading between 15,734.44 and 16,071.50. Among the actives, Cathay Financial slumped 1.19 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.53 percent, CTBC Financial improved 0.92 percent, Fubon Financial dropped 1.03 percent, First Financial climbed 0.96 percent, E Sun Financial retreated 1.14 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shed 0.38 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation rallied 2.09 percent, Largan Precision soared 3.51 percent, Catcher Technology surged 3.67 percent, MediaTek advanced 0.86 percent, Delta Electronics declined 1.52 percent, Novatek Microelectronics spiked 3.31 percent, Nan Ya Plastic lost 0.35 percent, Asia Cement dipped 0.32 percent, Taiwan Cement sank 0.90 percent and Hon Hai Precision and Formosa Plastic were unchanged.
Sensex ends 277pts lower
The key benchmark indices ended lower for the fourth straight trading day as global cues remained subdued ahead of key macro-economic data. The US is slated to release its April inflation numbers later today. Meanwhile, China’s consumer price index (CPI) for April grew 0.4 percent month-on-month compared to 0.6 percent in March due to Covid-19 induced supply disruptions. Back home, the BSE Sensex dropped to a low of 53,519, dragged by aggressive selling in IT, FMCG and select index heavyweights like Reliance, Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro. The BSE 20-share index recovered partially led by gains in banking shares and eventually ended with a loss of 276 points at 54,088. In the process, the Sensex has declined 1,614 points in the last four trading sessions. The NSE Nifty dipped below the 16,000-mark briefly in intra-day deals but finally ended with a minor loss of 73 points at 16,167.
Tokyo’s key Nikkei index closes higher
Tokyo’s key Nikkei 225 index closed higher on Wednesday as investors increasingly took to the sidelines ahead of key US inflation data due later in the day. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index edged up 0.18 percent, or 46.54 points, to close at 26,213.64, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.60 percent, or 11.23 points, to 1,851.15. Investors were keenly awaiting US consumer price data for any signs of the Federal Reserve’s next monetary tightening steps to battle inflation, analysts said. In late Tokyo trade, some investors started to “buy back after a series of declines in the previous sessions,” Okasan Online Securities added. The dollar fetched 130.36 yen in Asian trade, against 130.41 yen in New York on Monday. Toyota dropped 4.42 percent to 2,082 yen after it posted record net profit and sales but unveiled a cautious forecast for the current year to March 2023. Other automakers were also lower, with Honda dropping 3.05 percent to 3,247 yen and Nissan closing down 1.46 percent at 499 yen. Nintendo rallied 3.25 percent to 58,190 yen, a day after it reported a solid net profit for the financial year to March on the strong performance of its blockbuster Switch console.
France stocks higher at close of trade; CAC 40 up 0.51pc
France stocks were higher after the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Financials, Basic Materials and Oil & Gas sectors led shares higher. At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 gained 0.51 percent, while the SBF 120 index gained 0.53 percent. Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Paris Stock Exchange by 271 to 269 and 100 ended unchanged. The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was unchanged 0.00 percent to 18.96 a new 52-week high. Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.79 percent or 14.67 to $1,843.93 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 3.64 percent or 3.75 to hit $99.34 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 3.58 percent or 3.79 to trade at $102.15 a barrel. EUR/USD was unchanged 0.20 percent to 1.05, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.00 percent to 0.86. The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.23 percent at 103.93.
S&P 500, Nasdaq end higher in choppy session as inflation data looms
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended higher on Tuesday, with big growth shares rising after the previous day’s selloff as Treasury yields tumbled. Bank shares fell along with yields. The benchmark 10-year note yield dropped from more than a three-year high to below 3 percent. The Dow also ended lower, and the day’s trading was choppy, with major indexes moving between gains and losses as investors were nervous ahead of the release of Wednesday’s U.S. consumer price index data and Thursday’s producer prices data. Worries that the U.S. Federal Reserve may have to move more aggressively to curb inflation have driven the recent selloff in the market. A host of other concerns have added to the pressure. “It’s just fear-based selling,” said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “It can’t just be the Fed’s going to raise rates to stave off inflation, because we’ve seen that before,” he said. Instead, investors have been worried about everything from rates and inflation to the war in Ukraine, supply chain problems and China’s COVID-19 lockdowns, Dollarhide said. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 84.96 points, or 0.26 percent, to 32,160.74, the S&P 500 gained 9.81 points, or 0.25 percent, to 4,001.05 and the Nasdaq Composite added 114.42 points, or 0.98 percent, to 11,737.67.