Stocks in Asia were mixed on Thursday, as problems related to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic continued to weigh on market sentiment.
Let’s have a look at the stocks across the Asia Pacific to have a better understanding of the ongoing situation. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dropped 1.33% to close at 19,290.20. Shares of robot maker Fanuc fell 2.68%. At the same time, the Topix index decreased 0.82% to end its trading day at 1,422.24.
On Thursday, South Korea’s Kospi index closed flat at 1,857.07.
Hopefully, mainland Chinese stocks saw gains on the day. The Shanghai Composite added 0.31% to around 2,819.94. In the meantime, the Shenzhen composite gained 0.476% to about 1,744.39.
Nevertheless, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.51% as of its final hour of trading.
Stocks and the labor market
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0,92% to close at 5,416.30, as shares of major banks such as Commonwealth Bank of Australia as well as Westpac fell on April 16.
Importantly, Australia’s unemployment rate in March came in at 5.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis, based on the information provided by the country’s bureau of statistics. Hopefully, the unemployment rate failed to meet the expectations as in this case this is positive news.
Nevertheless, people should take into consideration that March’s employment covered just the first two weeks of the month before the lockdown measures initiated by the government.
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Investors are closely monitoring the economic data globally to learn more about the economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 445.41 points to close at 23,504.35. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 closed 2.2% lower at 2,783.36. The Nasdaq Composite ended its trading day 1.4% lower at 8,393.18. It is worth mentioning that, it was the worst session for Dow Jones Industrial Average as well as S&P 500 since April 1.
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