Photo: Benh Lieu Song / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Asian markets turned mixed Wednesday as Seoul bounced back from its steepest drop in two weeks and Tokyo reopened lower after a holiday, while Beijing’s latest attempt to steady its sinking stock market drew a lukewarm response from investors.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.2 percent to 5,715.81 by 9:37 a.m. in Seoul, Korea Exchange data showed, after opening 2.4 percent higher. The index had closed down 3.6 percent at 5,648.79 on Tuesday, its sharpest one-day fall since Oct. 20, as Samsung Electronics lost 4.2 percent and SK Hynix shed 5 percent. Samsung recovered 0.9 percent and SK Hynix climbed 2.1 percent in early trade Wednesday.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 1.6 percent to 62,104 by 9:37 a.m. in Tokyo as the market reopened after Tuesday’s Culture Day holiday, catching up with a regional selloff that hit while it was closed, according to index data. The yen traded near 158.3 to the dollar.
In China, regulators on Monday rolled out fresh steps to support the sinking mainland market, including People’s Bank of China swap operations to help brokers, funds and companies finance share purchases, alongside calls for more buybacks. The response was tepid. The Shanghai Composite fell 0.8 percent Tuesday to 3,608.10, near one-year lows, and the tech-heavy ChiNext index dropped 2.7 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index went the other way, rising 0.6 percent to 23,525.97 as technology shares gained.
The region traded against a mixed Wall Street finish on Election Day in the United States. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.8 percent to 25,372.01 and the S&P 500 added 0.4 percent to 7,568.92, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.4 percent to 51,786.72. Polls in the midterm elections were closing across the eastern United States as Asian markets opened, with control of Congress at stake.
Oil steadied after two days of heavy losses. U.S. crude settled at $96.09 a barrel Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 37 cents, after dipping below $95 earlier in the session, and traded near $96.40 early Wednesday. Brent, the international benchmark, settled at $103.60. Diplomacy between Washington and Tehran continued to drain the conflict premium that pushed prices above $100 last week.
For households, the threads to watch are simple. Beijing’s rescue attempt signals official discomfort with a market slide that sits inside many U.S. retirement and college-savings funds through China and Hong Kong holdings. Oil holding near $96 keeps pointing toward relief at the gasoline pump in the coming weeks. And the midterm vote count unfolding overnight will shape the tax and spending debates that reach family budgets.
Hong Kong and Shanghai reopen for Wednesday’s session about half an hour after this report is published. Attention then turns to the U.S. midterm vote count and, on Friday, the October jobs report.
JBizNews Desk | New York
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