On Friday morning (29 Mar, 9:45 AM, GMT+7, Bangkok time), major indices in Asia Pacific rose while some markets in the region, including Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Australia and New Zealand, closed for the Good Friday holiday. Meanwhile, investors kept their eyes on the Japanese yen during the session as there could be a potential intervention from the government since the currency weakened to the lowest point in 34 years.
Japan’s NIKKEI grew by 0.66% to 40,432.15, and South Korea’s KOSPI gained 0.04% to 2,746.86.
As for stocks in China, Shanghai’s SSEC surged by 0.42% to 3,023.19, while Shenzhen’s SZI slid by 0.16% to 9,327.83.
Meanwhile, the US stock markets were mixed on Thursday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) climbed by 0.12% to 39,807.37. S&P 500 edged up by 0.11% to 5,254.35, while NASDAQ dropped by 0.12% to 16,379.46. VIX jumped by 1.8% to 13.01.
As for commodities, oil prices settled higher on Thursday as investors expected the production cuts from OPEC+ to prolong. Brent crude futures for May, which expired on Thursday, increased $1.39 or 1.61% to $87.48 per barrel, and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose $1.82 or 2.24% to $83.17 a barrel.
This morning, Brent crude futures for June gained $1.66 or 1.94% to $87.07 a barrel, and WTI increased $1.76 or 2.16% to $83.11 per barrel.
Meanwhile, gold futures grew by 1.9% to $2,254.8 per Troy ounce.
