Asian stocks are trading in the middle of the road on Monday after two of the three major U.S. indices fell for a second straight week on worries about the U.S. debt ceiling and weak economic data.
The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia was down 0.14% and the Kospi in South Korea dropped 0.45% as of 9:32 AM Bangkok time. The Nikkei 225 rose by 0.45% in Japan.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was slightly lower. Also, the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.63% on the Chinese mainland.
The Thai baht appreciated against the dollar as the results of the country’s general election showed that the opposition party stood ready to end the nearly ten years of conservative government supported by the military.
Thai GDP growth in the first quarter will also be looked at by investors.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite benchmark was the only major benchmark to conclude the day up on Friday in the United States. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 0.03%, while the S&P 500 fell by 0.16%.
Both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average experienced weekly declines of 0.29% and 1.11%, respectively. The meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and lawmakers to discuss the country’s debt ceiling, originally scheduled for this Friday, has been moved to next week, giving the Nasdaq a 0.4% boost.
