On Thursday morning (9 May, 9:09 AM, GMT+7, Bangkok time), major indices in Asia Pacific traded mixed as investors kept their eyes on April trade numbers from China and evaluated salary data from Japan, which continued its decline for 24 consecutive months by 2.5% YoY in March.
South Korea’s KOSPI slid by 0.37% to 2,734.77. Australia’s ASX 200 decreased by 0.74% to 7,746.9, while Japan’s NIKKEI rose by 0.31% to 38,321.06.
As for stocks in China, Shanghai’s SSEC grew by 0.54% to 3,145.26. Shenzhen’s SZI surged by 0.79% to 9,715.29, and Hong Kong’s HSI gained 0.51% to 18,407.29.
Meanwhile, the US stock markets traded mixed on Wednesday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) increased by 0.44% to 39,056.39. S&P 500 remained unchanged at 5,187.67, while NASDAQ slid 0.18% to 16,302.76. VIX slumped by 1.74% to 13.
As for commodities, oil prices settled higher on Wednesday as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a decrease in US commercial crude stockpiles, while Morgan Stanley predicted OPEC+ to continue its production cuts until the end of the year. Brent edged up 42 cents or 0.51% to $83.58 per barrel, and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) grew 61 cents or 0.78% to $78.99 a barrel.
This morning, Brent rose 24 cents or 0.29% to $83.82 a barrel, and the WTI surged 31 cents or 0.39% to $79.3 per barrel.
Meanwhile, gold futures contracted by 0.23% to $2,316.9 per Troy ounce.
