On Wednesday morning (29 January, 9:52 AM, GMT+7, Bangkok time), major indices in Asia Pacific, including Japan’s NIKKEI and Australia’s ASX 200, exhibited an upward trend following a bounce-back on Wall Street, with several markets in the region closing for the Lunar New Year holiday.
Bank of Japan’s December meeting minutes released Wednesday show discussions on neutral interest rates and monetary policy conduct, with ongoing debate on raising borrowing costs due to inflation exceeding 2% target and wage hikes from labor shortages.
In Australia, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the country’s inflation increased by 0.2% in the December quarter and 2.4% annually, falling slightly below the 2.5% projection by economists surveyed by Reuters.
Japan’s NIKKEI rose by 0.55% to 39,232.75. and Australia’s ASX 200 grew by 0.97% to 8,480.4.
Meanwhile, the US stock markets edged up on Tuesday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) surged by 0.31% to 44,850.35. NASDAQ jumped by 2.03% to 19,733.59, and S&P 500 soared by 0.92% to 6,067.7. VIX slumped by 8.32% to 16.41.
As for commodities, oil prices settled higher on Tuesday following reassurances from the White House that U.S. President Donald Trump’s intention to impose tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico remains unchanged for this week. Brent futures gained 41 cents or 0.53% to $77.49 a barrel, and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) added 60 cents or 0.82% to $73.77 per barrel.
This morning, Brent futures slid 6 cents or 0.08% to $77.43 a barrel, while the WTI climbed 1 cent or 0.01% to $73.78 per barrel.
Meanwhile, gold futures increased 0.21% to $2,773.2 per Troy ounce.
