On Wednesday morning (4 September, 9:45 AM, GMT+7, Bangkok time), indices in Asia Pacific decreased, attributed to the sell-off of U.S. tech stocks and concerns over a possible recession due to disappointing economic data from the United States.
The ISM manufacturing index rose to 47.2% in August, marking a 0.4 percentage point increase from July, but still falling below the Dow Jones’ expected 47.9%. This index serves as a measure of the percentage of companies indicating growth, with anything below 50% indicating contraction.
Japan’s NIKKEI slumped by 3.3% to 37,411.12. South Korea’s KOSPI plummeted by 2.19% to 2,606.17, and Australia’s ASX 200 fell by 1.81% to 7,956.7.
As for stocks in China, Shanghai’s SSEC slid by 0.57% to 2,787.07. Hong Kong’s HSI declined by 1.47% to 17,391.37, and Shenzhen’s SZI shrank by 0.47% to 8,228.94.
Meanwhile, the US stock markets edged up on Tuesday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) decreased by 1.51% to 40,936.93. NASDAQ plunged by 3.26% to 17,136.3, and S&P 500 slumped by 2.12% to 5,528.93. VIX soared by 33.25% to 20.72.
As for commodities, oil prices settled lower on Tuesday, marking their lowest settlement since December and nullifying all profits for the year. Brent futures dropped $3.77 or 4.86% to $73.75 a barrel, and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) contracted $3.21 or 4.36% to $70.34 per barrel.
Bob Yawger, the executive director of energy futures at Mizuho Securities, cautioned about the bleak situation facing crude oil due to a harmful combination of oversupply, weakening demand, negative technical indicators, and poor product fundamentals.
This morning, Brent futures dipped 46 cents or 0.62% to $73.29 a barrel, while the WTI lost 50 cents or 0.71% to $69.84 per barrel.
Meanwhile, gold futures rose by 0.14% to $2,526.5 per Troy ounce.
