On Friday morning (28 June, 9:33 AM, GMT+7, Bangkok time), indices in Asia Pacific surged as investors digested economic data from Japan and awaited inflation data from the US coming tonight.
Tokyo’s headline inflation rose to 2.3% in June from a year earlier, up from 2.2% in May. The core inflation rate, excluding fresh food prices, increased to 2.1% compared to 1.9% in May.
Meanwhile, the country’s industrial production in May exceeded expectations of 2% polled by Reuters, growing by 2.8% month-on-month and 0.3% year-on-year.
Japan’s NIKKEI rose by 0.95% to 39,713.56. South Korea’s KOSPI climbed by 0.2% to 2,789.59, and Australia’s ASX 200 grew by 0.74% to 7,817.1.
As for stocks in China, Shanghai’s SSEC increased by 0.78% to 2,968.86. Hong Kong’s HSI edged up by 0.6% to 17,822.3, and Shenzhen’s SZI surged by 0.89% to 8,928.59.
Meanwhile, the US stock markets edged up on Thursday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) climbed by 0.09% to 39,164.06. NASDAQ increased by 0.3% to 17,858.68, and S&P 500 rose by 0.09% to 5,482.87. VIX slumped by 2.47% to 12.24.
As for commodities, oil prices settled higher on Thursday as concerns about a potential conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia took precedence over subdued U.S. gasoline demand. Brent futures gained $1.14 or 1.34% to $86.39 a barrel, and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) increased 84 cents or 1.04% to $81.74 per barrel.
This morning, Brent futures grew 37 cents or 0.44% to $84.81 a barrel, and the WTI surged 47 cents or 0.57% to $82.21 per barrel.
Meanwhile, gold futures slid by 0.17% to $2,332.7 per Troy ounce.
