On Friday morning (23 Feb, 9:37 AM, GMT+7, Bangkok time), most indices in Asia Pacific surged as investors assessed property price data from China. The sales prices of newly built commercial housing in first-tier cities of the world’s second largest economy dropped by 0.3% MoM in January, a decrease of 0.1 percentage points from the previous month.
Last year, China’s property market encountered difficulties, which caused the new home prices to decline to the lowest level in almost nine years.
Japan’s NIKKEI jumped by 2.19% to 39,098.68. South Korea’s KOSPI rose by 0.5% to 2,677.53, and Australia’s ASX 200 grew by 0.46% to 7,646.
As for stocks in China, Hong Kong’s HSI dropped by 0.05% to 16,733.95. Shenzhen’s SZI decreased by 0.35% to 9,011.67, while Shanghai’s SSEC edged up by 0.07% to 2,990.35.
Meanwhile, the US stock markets edged higher on Thursday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) gained 1.18% to 39,069.11. NASDAQ surged by 2.96% to 16,041.62, and S&P 500 increased by 2.11% to 5,087.03. VIX slumped by 5.22% to 14.54.
As for commodities, oil prices edged higher on Thursday as tensions in the Middle East continued, while there were also signs of a tightening global market. Brent rose 64 cents or 0.77% to $83.67 per barrel, and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) grew 70 cents or 0.9% to $78.61 a barrel.
This morning, Brent edged down 25 cents or 0.3% to $83.42 a barrel, and WTI slid 29 cents or 0.37% to $78.32 per barrel.
Meanwhile, gold futures climbed by 0.26% to $2,035.9 per Troy ounce.
