On Thursday morning (1 Feb, 9:43 AM, GMT+7, Bangkok time), most major indices in Asia Pacific increased following the US Fed decision to hold its interest rate. Meanwhile, investors in Asia kept their eyes on business activity for January in the region, particularly the Caixin PMI from China.
Japan’s NIKKEI decreased by 0.77% to 36,008.75. Australia’s ASX 200 dropped by 1.01% to 7,603.4, while South Korea’s KOSPI gained 1.12% to 2,525.01.
As for stocks in China, Shanghai’s SSEC edged up by 0.27% to 2,796.07. Shenzhen’s SZI climbed by 1.36% to 8,324.22, and Hong Kong’s HSI rose by 1.23% to 15,675.89.
Meanwhile, the US stocks market edged lower on Wednesday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) dipped by 0.82% to 38,150.3. NASDAQ slumped by 2.23% to 15,164.01, and S&P 500 declined by 1.61% to 4,845.65. VIX jumped by 7.81% to 14.35.
As for commodities, oil prices settled lower on Wednesday following the emerging pressure from weak economic activity in China and rising oil production in the US, caused by extremely cold weather. Brent fell $1.16 or 1.40% to $81.71 per barrel, and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) slumped $1.97 or 2.53% to $75.85 a barrel.
This morning, Brent remained unchanged at $81.71 a barrel, and WTI increased 58 cents or 0.76% to $76.43 per barrel.
Meanwhile, gold futures dropped by 0.17% to $2,063.8 per Troy ounce.
