On Thursday morning (28 Mar, 9:24 AM, GMT+7, Bangkok time), major indices in Asia Pacific increased, conforming to a rise in the US markets. Meanwhile, Australia’s ASX 200 rose to a record high of 7,883.90 during the trading session, while investors also digested an increase of 0.3% in the country’s retail sales for February, which slightly missed expectations polled by Reuters of 0.4% growth.
Japan’s NIKKEI slumped by 1.19% to 40,276.29. South Korea’s KOSPI slid by 0.26% to 2,747.81, while Australia’s ASX 200 climbed by 0.91% to 7,890.5.
As for stocks in China, Shanghai’s SSEC rose by 0.14% to 2,997.39. Hong Kong’s HSI grew by 0.17% to 16,420.42, and Shenzhen’s SZI surged by 0.73% to 9,289.86.
Meanwhile, the US stock markets edged up on Wednesday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) gained 1.22% to 39,760.08. NASDAQ soared by 0.51% to 16,399.52, and S&P 500 increased by 0.86% to 5,248.49. VIX dropped by 3.47% to 12.78.
As for commodities, oil prices settled lower on Wednesday as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced a 3.2 million barrels increase in US crude stockpiles. Brent dipped 16 cents or 0.19% to $86.09 per barrel, and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) decreased 27 cents or 0.33% to $81.35 a barrel.
This morning, Brent edged up 42 cents or 0.49% to $86.51 a barrel, and WTI gained 55 cents or 0.68% to $81.9 per barrel.
Meanwhile, gold futures slid by 0.07% to $2,211.1 per Troy ounce.
