Most of Asia Pacific markets continued to edge lower on Monday morning (25 Sep) after last week of central bank rate decisions. Most of the major indices were still on the bearish side except Japan and Taiwan as investors were anticipating more inflation data this week.
Hong Kong’s HSI led the fall today by losing over 1.3% under 17,830. South Korean KOSPI followed the loss trend by 0.6% to 2,490. Shenzhen’s SZI, Shanghai’s SSEC and Australian ASX 200 both lost by around 0.4%, edging the indices down to 10,140, 3,120 and 7,040, respectively. In contrast, Japan’s NIKKEI and Taiwan’s TWII both were rising around 0.6% to 32,600 and 16,440, respectively.
Meanwhile, the US Futures indices were mixed as the S&P 500 was still around the same level at 4,370 and NASDAQ also at 14,900. VIX swung up over 17 as last week’s rate decision raised many markets’ volatility, altogether with the roll-over from the expiration of near-term contracts.
The same trend persisted for energy commodities. WTI crude oil was still over $90 and Brent was slightly under $93 per barrel. The precious metal like gold was slightly over $1,940 per Troy ounce, while the US Dollar Index (DXY) stood at 105.3. Cryptocurrency like Bitcoin was falling down to 26,000 USD per coin again after it swung over 27,000 last week.
