China’s Benchmark Lending rate and Stocks on October 20

There are numerous factors that have the potential to influence stocks and the list is quite impressive. Importantly, stocks in major Asia-Pacific markets were mixed, and let’s have a look at the factor. People should take into account that, Investors reacted to the October fixing of China’s benchmark lending rate.

It is worth noting that, mainland Chinese stocks strengthened their positions on Tuesday. For example, the Shanghai Composite added 0.47% to about 3’328.10. In the meantime, the Shenzhen Component soared 1’361% to around 13’603.88.

Moreover, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was slightly higher, as of its final hour of trading.

Stocks in Asia and interesting details

 The Nikkei 225 fell 0.44% to close at 23’567.04. At the same time, the Topix index dropped 0.75% to end its trading day at 1’625.74. 

Interestingly, shares of the Japan Exchange Group were 1.51% on the day. It is worth noting that, the information that the country’s financial regulators are set to conduct an on-site inspection of the Tokyo Stock Exchange affected the shares. 

As a reminder, a technical issue earlier this month halted trading due to a technical issue. Based on the information provided by the Japan Exchange Group, the Tokyo Stock Exchange halted trading for the day following a hardware glitch. 

Let’s have a look at other stocks in other countries as well. Interestingly, South Korea’s Kospi index added 0.5% to 2’358.41. Shares of South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix dropped 1.73% after the firm made an important announcement. Interestingly, it will buy Intel’s NAND memory and storage business for $9 billion. This deal will help the firm to become one of the major chipmakers in the world.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 ended its trading day 0.72% lower at 6’184.60. 

Interestingly, China’s one-year and five-year loan prime rates (LPRs) were left unchanged on October 20. It is worth noting that, majority of traders, as well as analysts, expected that one-year and five-year loan prime rates would remain unchanged. At the moment, LPR sits at 3.85% while the five-year rate is at 4.65%. 

Currencies on Tuesday

Importantly, the U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 93’416 after an earlier low of 93.377. 

Notably, the Japanese yen traded at 105.49 per dollar after an earlier low of 105.61 against the dollar. 

People should take into account that oil prices were lower in the afternoon of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures down 0.31% to $42.49 per barrel. Moreover, U.S. crude futures also fell about 0.2% to $40.76 per barrel.