06/07/2023
Today’s Announcements & News
Asia
On Tuesday, Asia-Pacific markets experienced a mostly negative trend as investors analyzed the release of private surveys on services activity from the region.
While services activity in Japan and China remained in expansion territory for the month, the pace of growth softened.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 declined by 0.25% to close its session at 33,338.7, and the Topix index also slightly slid to 2,306.03. South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.55% to reach 2,579, while the Kosdaq managed to rise 0.13% to 891.18.
The Greater China markets were also in the red, with the Shanghai Composite falling by 0.69% to close at 3,222.95, and the Shenzhen Component lower by 0.91% at 11,029.3. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index experienced a significant decline of 1.6% in its final hour of trading, and the Hang Seng Tech index traded 1.5% lower.
Meanwhile, in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.35% to close at 7,253.6 after the Reserve Bank of Australia decided to keep interest rates steady at 4.1% on Tuesday.
US
On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average experienced a decline as Wall Street resumed trading after a holiday-shortened week and analyzed the recently released minutes from the Federal Reserve meeting for insights into monetary policy.
The 30-stock average lost 129.83 points, or 0.38%, closing at 34,288.64. The S&P 500 also fell by 0.2% to reach 4,446.82, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.18% and ended at 13,791.65. Both the Dow and S&P 500 halted their three-day winning streaks with the losses recorded on Wednesday.
Investors closely examined the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s June 13-14 meeting, which were released on Wednesday afternoon. The minutes revealed that most officials indicated the possibility of future interest rate hikes. The information provided further context to the central bank’s decision to forgo a rate increase at the June meeting.
Commodity
On Wednesday, U.S. crude oil prices experienced a gain of approximately 3%, narrowing the price difference with the global benchmark Brent, in response to supply cuts announced earlier in the week by Saudi Arabia and Russia. Market participants were also awaiting U.S. demand data for the Fourth of July weekend.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) increased by $2, or 2.9%, settling at $71.79 per barrel. Brent crude futures rose by 40 cents, or 0.5%, settling at $76.65 per barrel, following a $1.60 per barrel gain on Tuesday.
As there was no WTI settlement on Tuesday due to the U.S. holiday, Wednesday’s trading session allowed it to catch up with the previous day’s gains seen in Brent. Both benchmarks reached their highest levels in nearly two weeks during Wednesday’s session.
Saudi Arabia, the largest crude exporter globally, announced on Monday that it would extend its voluntary output cut of 1 million barrels per day (bpd) until August. Additionally, Russia and Algeria are reducing their August output and export levels by 500,000 bpd and 20,000 bpd, respectively.
In contrast, gold prices declined on Wednesday, influenced by a rise in the dollar and U.S. Treasury yields following the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s June policy meeting. The minutes reinforced expectations of higher interest rates over an extended period.
Spot gold dropped by 0.5% to reach $1,916.49 per ounce by 02:32 p.m. EDT (1832 GMT), while U.S. gold futures settled 0.1% lower at $1,927.10.
The above analysis is only for the views of market researchers and is for reference only and is not regarded as a specific investment suggestion.
