On Wednesday morning (27 November, 9:29 AM, GMT+7, Bangkok time), most indices in Asia Pacific decreased, in contrast with the positive momentum on Wall Street where the S&P 500 and DJIA achieved new intraday and closing highs after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump proposed imposing a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada, along with an extra 10% duty on Chinese products. Meanwhile, investors in Asia digested key economic data, including China’s industrial profits and Australia’s inflation data.
China reported a 10% drop in industrial profits for October compared to a year earlier. This underscores how Beijing’s recent economic stimulus efforts have not yet managed to reverse the downward trend in corporate earnings.
Australia revealed a 2.1% year-on-year increase in the consumer price index for October, falling short of the 2.3% forecasted by Reuters’ economists. This figure remained consistent with the previous month and marked a notable decrease from the 5.6% recorded in September 2023.
Japan’s NIKKEI contracted by 0.77% to 38,147.11. South Korea’s KOSPI slid by 0.05% to 2,519.05, while Australia’s ASX 200 surged by 0.55% to 8,405.
As for stocks in China, Shanghai’s SSEC declined by 0.51% to 3,243.22. Shenzhen’s SZI shrank by 0.43% to 10,289.25, while Hong Kong’s HSI climbed by 0.01% to 19,161.13.
Meanwhile, the US stock markets edged up on Tuesday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) increased by 0.28% to 44,860.31. NASDAQ grew by 0.63% to 19,175.58, and S&P 500 rose by 0.57% to 6,021.63. VIX slumped by 3.42% to 14.1.
As for commodities, oil prices settled lower on Tuesday, continuing the downtrend from the day before in volatile trading following Israel’s agreement to a ceasefire with Hezbollah, which diminished the risk premium on oil. Brent futures lost 20 cents or 0.27% to $72.81 a barrel, and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) dropped 17 cents or 0.25% to $68.77 per barrel.
This morning, Brent futures dipped 10 cents or 0.14% to $72.71 a barrel, and the WTI decreased 12 cents or 0.17% to $68.65 per barrel.
Meanwhile, gold futures added 0.53% to $2,635.1 per Troy ounce.
