On Tuesday morning (18 March, 9:42 AM, GMT+7, Bangkok time), indices in Asia Pacific increased across the region, mirroring the positive performance of Wall Street which was driven by reassuring U.S. retail sales data, alleviating fears of an impending recession.
The retail sales data saw a modest increase of 0.2% in February following a revised 1.2% decrease in January.
Market participants are closely monitoring developments in Japanese markets, specifically as the Bank of Japan commences its two-day monetary policy meeting. It is widely anticipated that the central bank will maintain the current interest rate of 0.5%.
Japan’s NIKKEI soared by 1.45% to 37,939.35. South Korea’s KOSPI expanded by 0.34% to 2,619.68, and Australia’s ASX 200 escalated by 0.2% to 7,869.5.
As for stocks in China, Shanghai’s SSEC climbed by 0.1% to 3,429.54. Hong Kong’s HSI jumped by 1.67% to 24,549.41, and Shenzhen’s SZI gained 0.32% to 10,992.38.
Meanwhile, the US stock markets edged up on Monday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) added 0.85% to 41,841.63. NASDAQ rose by 0.31% to 17,808.66, and S&P 500 grew by 0.65% to 5,675.12. VIX slumped by 5.78% to 20.51.
As for commodities, oil prices settled higher on Monday following a statement made by U.S. President Donald Trump indicating that going forward, any attacks conducted by the Houthis, a militant group in Yemen, will be perceived as actions orchestrated by Iran. Brent futures gained 49 cents or 0.69% to $71.07 a barrel, and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) increased 40 cents or 0.6% to $67.58 per barrel.
This morning, Brent futures surged 17 cents or 0.24% to $71.24 a barrel, and the WTI edged up 18 cents or 0.27% to $67.76 per barrel.
Meanwhile, gold futures grew 0.34% to $3,016.2 per Troy ounce.
