15/06/2023
Today’s Announcements & News
Asia
In the Asia-Pacific region, the markets showed a mixed response to the U.S. inflation data and the expectation of the Federal Reserve pausing its rate hikes in June.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index increased by 1.47% to close at 33,502.42, marking its fifth consecutive session of gains. The Topix index also climbed 1.31% to reach 2,294.53, its highest level this year. Shares of Toyota rose, reaching their highest level in 16 months, after the company’s shareholders voted to retain Akio Toyoda as chairman, demonstrating support for the company’s strategy.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index rose by 0.32% to close at 7,161.7, marking its third consecutive daily gain.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index fell by 0.82%. Mainland Chinese markets had a mixed performance, with the Shanghai Composite index down by 0.14% and the Shenzhen Component index up by 0.26%.
South Korea’s Kospi index dropped by 0.72% to end the day at 2,619.08, continuing its retreat from the year high reached on June 9. The Kosdaq index tumbled by 2.79% to close at 871.83, influenced by the nation’s unemployment rate returning to a record low of 2.5% last seen in August.
United States
On Wednesday, the stock market had a mixed response to the Federal Reserve’s decision to pause its rate-hiking campaign and its signals regarding inflation and future rate hikes.
The S&P 500 index managed to eke out a narrow gain, rising by 0.08% to close at 4,372.59. It briefly reached its highest level since April 2022. The Nasdaq Composite index also saw an increase of 0.39%, closing at 13,626.48, supported by gains in tech stocks like Nvidia and AMD. However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average experienced a dip of 0.68%, or 232.79 points, finishing the session at 33,979.33. This decline was primarily driven by losses in UnitedHealth.
As expected by traders, the Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates unchanged at a target range of 5%-5.25%, putting an end to a streak of 10 consecutive rate hikes.
Despite the pause in rate hikes, the initial reaction in the markets was negative as investors focused on the Fed’s projections for the remainder of the year, which indicated that the central bank would resume rate hikes before long.
Commodity
On Wednesday, oil prices experienced a decline following the U.S. Federal Reserve’s projection of more interest rate hikes this year. This development raised concerns in the market regarding the potential impact on demand, particularly after government data revealed an unexpected and significant increase in U.S. crude oil stocks.
Brent crude futures settled at $73.20 per barrel, down by $1.09 or 1.5%, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude closed at $68.27 per barrel, down by $1.15 or 1.7%.
Earlier in the session, both benchmarks had seen an increase of over 1.5%. The previous day, they had risen by more than 3% due to expectations of growing fuel demand following China’s central bank’s decision to lower a short-term lending rate.
Gold prices initially made gains on Wednesday but later trimmed those gains after the U.S. Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates unchanged, as widely anticipated. However, the Fed’s indication of potential rate hikes later in the year weighed on the precious metal’s performance.
At the time of the report, spot gold was up 0.1% and priced at $1,945.19 per ounce. Meanwhile, U.S. gold futures settled 0.5% higher at $1,968.9 per ounce.
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.
