On Friday morning (19 July, 10:06 AM, GMT+7, Bangkok time), most indices in Asia Pacific declined, mirroring the drop in Wall Street, as investors persisted in shifting away from technology stocks and capitalizing on the gains made in equities in recent weeks.
Japan’s NIKKEI dropped by 0.43% to 39,952.62. South Korea’s KOSPI slumped by 1.43% to 2,783.85, and Australia’s ASX 200 decreased by 1.08% to 7,949.4.
As for stocks in China, Shanghai’s SSEC dipped by 0.06% to 2,975.25. Hong Kong’s HSI contracted by 1.66% to 17,483.86, while Shenzhen’s SZI climbed by 0.35% to 8,910.24.
Meanwhile, the US stock markets edged down on Thursday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) plummeted by 1.29% to 40,665.02. NASDAQ declined by 0.7% to 17,871.22, and S&P 500 fell by 0.78% to 5,544.59. VIX jumped by 10.01% to 15.93.
As for commodities, oil prices remained stable on Thursday as investors grappled with mixed signals on crude demand. The concerns over a potential economic slowdown in the U.S. were weighed against growing anticipation of an imminent interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve. Brent futures gained 3 cents to settle at $85.11 a barrel, while the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) lost 3 cents to settle at $82.82 per barrel.
This morning, Brent futures dropped 45 cents or 0.53% to $84.66 a barrel, and the WTI decreased 59 cents or 0.71% to $82.23 per barrel.
Meanwhile, gold futures slumped by 1.05% to $2,430.5 per Troy ounce.
