Asian Stocks Drift as S&P 500 Achieves Another Record High
Sophia Cruz•Thursday, March 28, 2024•1 min read
In Thursday’s early trading session, Asian stocks displayed a mixed performance following a resurgence in US stocks, which closed at a new record after a three-day downtrend.
Meanwhile, oil prices saw gains, and US futures experienced a slight decline. The US dollar remained strong against the Japanese Yen and Chinese Yuan, causing concern among regulators in Tokyo and Beijing.
Asian investors proceeded cautiously following remarks from a Federal Reserve official suggesting the possibility of postponing or reducing interest rate cuts.
The recent market rally momentum is starting to fade as traders evaluate the prospects of the US monetary policy. A series of economic data points, which have surpassed expectations regarding inflation and economic growth, has led to some questions on whether the central bank can uphold its forecast of three interest rate cuts this year.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 experienced a decline of 1.2% to 40,283.44, with the Yen steadying after reaching 151.97 against the US dollar on Wednesday, marking its weakest level since 1990. This followed the remarks from an official from the Bank of Japan warning that monetary policy would remain accommodative for some time.
These comments came a week after the bank raised its interest rates for the first time in 17 years moving away from its long-running ultra-loose monetary policy.
The decline has triggered speculations that authorities may intervene to support the unit, with Vice Finance Minister Masato Kanda stating that he’s ready to take whatever measures are required.
Shanghai Composite is up by 0.59% trading at 3,010.66, while the Hang Seng index surged by 0.91% to 16,541.42. Shenzhen also rose by 1.31% to 9,342.92.
South Korea’s Kospi, on the other hand, dropped by 0.34% trading at 2,745.82, while India’s Nifty 50 went up by 0.92% trading at 22,326.9.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 jumped 0.9% to 7,887, and Taiwan’s Taiex slightly dropped by 0.27% at 20,146.55.
Sophia is an experienced writer, reporter and newsdesk member, mostly on the financial sectors. For the past 5 years Sophia has covered a wide variety of topics such as the financial markets, economics, technology, fin-tech and trading. Sophia has been a part of the FX Leaders team since 2017 and works on producing valuable content and information for traders of all levels of experience.