This week, Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the U.S. He took the oath of office at the U.S. Capitol. Interestingly, shares in major Asia-Pacific markets saw gains on the day after stocks on Wall Street jumped to record highs as Biden was sworn into the office.
Let’s have a look at the stocks across Asia-Pacific. It was a positive day for mainland Chinese stocks. The Shanghai Composite added 1.07% to close at 3,621.26. In the meantime, the Shenzhen Component gained 1.953% to 15,520.60.
Nevertheless, Hong Kong Hang Seng index dropped 0.12% to close at 29,927.76.
Interestingly, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.82% to end its trading day at 28,756.86. In the meantime, the Topix index added 0.6% to close at 1,860.64.
Importantly, the country’s central bank, the Bank of Japan decided to keep monetary policy steady. It is not an unexpected decision. The central bank kept its target for short-term interest rates at -0.1% and that for 10-year government bond yields at around 0%.
South Korea’s Kospi index gained 1.49% to close at 3,160.84.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.79% to 6,823.70.
According to seasonally adjusted estimates released by the country’s Bureau of Statistics, Australia’s unemployment rate came in at 6.6% in December.
U.S. stocks on Wednesday
On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 257.86 points to a new closing high of 31,188.38. Also, the S&P 500 advanced 1.4% to a record close of 3,851.85. Moreover, the Nasdaq Composite jumped almost 2% to end its trading day at 13,457.25. Interestingly, the Nasdaq Composite also reached a fresh record. As mentioned earlier, the moves came as Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the U.S.
It is worth mentioning that, Biden entered the White House exactly two weeks after a mob inflamed by Donald Trump stormed the Capitol. This act of violence created many problems for law enforcement agencies. Biden will aim to boost the country’s economy. At the moment, 18 million people are receiving unemployment benefits.
Hopefully, Biden is willing to work for the voters who did not support him. His speech once more showed that he is ready to cooperate with Republicans. The lawmakers from both parties should cooperate with the new administration to support the people affected by coronavirus pandemic and other issues. It is important to prevent any acts of violence in the coming years, as there is no need to create additional challenges for the law enforcement agencies.
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