On Monday morning (22 Jan, 9:30 AM, GMT+7, Bangkok time), most major indices in Asia Pacific decreased as the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) held its one- and five-year loan prime rates unchanged at 3.45% and 4.2%, respectively. Meanwhile, tech stocks in Asia rose following the positive sentiment from the US’ S&P 500, which reached its all-time high on Friday.
Investors also awaited crucial economic data coming this week, including the BOJ’s monetary policy decision, Tokyo’s trade balances for December and January inflation numbers, as well as South Korea’s 4Q23 GDP figures.
Japan’s NIKKEI increased by 1.05% to 36,340.89. Australia’s ASX 200 rose by 0.6% to 7,466, while South Korea’s KOSPI slid by 0.14% to 2,469.25.
As for stocks in China, Shanghai’s SSEC decreased by 0.65% to 2,813.78. Shenzhen’s SZI dropped by 1.13% to 8,688.11, and Hong Kong’s HSI slumped by 1.15% to 15,133.05.
Meanwhile, the US stocks market edged up on Friday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) grew by 1.05% to 37,863.8. NASDAQ gained by 1.7% to 15,310.97, and S&P 500 increased 1.23% to 4,839.81. VIX dropped by 5.87% to 13.3.
As for commodities, oil prices settled lower on Friday as the market was still concerned about the slower-than-expected growth in China. Brent edged down 54 cents or 0.68% to $78.56 per barrel, and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell 67 cents or 0.91% to $73.41 a barrel.
This morning, Brent slumped 37 cents or 0.47% to $78.19 a barrel, and WTI decreased 20 cents or 0.27% to $73.21 per barrel.
Meanwhile, gold futures grew by 0.08% to $2,031 per Troy ounce.
