Various Factors Affected Stocks in Asia-Pacific

Stocks around the region traded mostly lower on December 17, following overnight losses on Wall Street, as investors digested monetary policy decisions from two key central banks.

On December 16, the  Bank of England hiked interest rates for the first time since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. The central bank raised its interest rate from 0.1% to 0.25% amid mounting inflation pressure. Currently, the government is trying to limit the spread of Covid’s new variant. 

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dropped 1.79% to end its trading day at 28,545.68. The Topix index fell 1.42% to close at 1,984.47.

Mainland Chinese stocks also declined on December 17. The Shanghai composite declined 1.16% to 3,632.45. The Shenzhen component dropped 1.62% to close at 14,867.55.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index fell 1.14%. The Hang Seng Tech Index declined 2.37%.

Shares of Chinese tech giants listed in Hong Kong suffered losses on December 17. Shares of Alibaba dropped 3.73%, and JD.com fell 3.79%. Furthermore, shares of Meituan declined 5.29% and search engine giant Baidu dropped 1.22% and Tencent fell 2.74%.

On December 17, state media reported that China plans to alter its laws to allow ride-hailing as well as food delivery workers to form unions.

One day earlier, the United States said it was imposing trade restrictions on more than 30 Chinese companies. The world’s largest economy decided to impose restrictions on companies over human rights allegations and the alleged development of technologies, such as brain-control weapons. 

Stocks in India, South Korea, and Australia

Stocks declined not only in China and Japan. For instance, India’s Nifty 50 fell 1.3% while the S&P Sensex dropped 1.33%.

In South Korea, Kospi gained 0.38% to close at 3,017.73.

In Australia, shares defied the downward trend with the benchmark ASX 200 gaining 0.11% to 7,304.