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This piece will cover today’s stock market movements in Asia-Pacific, as investors anticipate China manufacturing purchasing managers’ index data for April. Japan’s top currency diplomat declined to comment on whether the finance ministry intervened after the yen fell to a record low yesterday before sharply strengthening against the US dollar. The Wall Street Journal reported that Japan had indeed sold U.S dollars and bought yen, suggesting intervention by authorities. Traders will also assess economic data from Japan and South Korea today, following weaker than expected retail sales figures in Japan earlier this week. In contrast to yesterday’s falls on Wall Street, all three major US stock market indexes finished the session higher – supported in part by surges witnessed in Tesla shares after it cleared a key hurdle for full self-driving technology in China. South Korea reported its industrial production had fallen to an 15 month low last month as figures released today showed output fell by 3.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis, marking the sharpest fall since December 2022 according to LSEG data – below expectations of a modest increase from economists polled by Reuters (RTHRMUKGB). Today in Hong Kong futures stand at 17,697 pointing towards an expected weaker open.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose by 0.98% today as traders returned to work following a public holiday yesterday. The small-cap Kosdaq and Korea’s main index – the KOSPI also performed relatively strongly – adding on +0.26% and +0.23%, respectively, whilst Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell by just over half a percentage point (-0.17%) during this morning’s trading session.
Goldman Sachs has highlighted its basket of buyback stocks for investors seeking to diversify their portfolios – offering high single-digit yields via both dividends and share repurchases, with sector allocation as close to the market average as possible according to the bank (GS). Balance sheets are said by Goldman analysts to look healthy in many markets they currently oversee and “strong job growth is continuing.” Rising cash flow generation alongside resilient returns for investors through dividends and buybacks, means that shareholder payouts are poised to reach an all-time high according to the bank.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch sees a positive week ahead in equity markets with risks skewed towards an optimistic performance by its portfolio following announcements on strong employment reports combined with continued manufacturing recoveries, which should be beneficial for stocks – as stated recently within research materials written up earlier today from analysts such as Ohsung Kwon.
Finally, crude oil futures fell in price yesterday evening during the last trading session before Easter Monday. A decrease of $1 per barrel was recorded by West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent Crude – with both benchmarks having risen more than 14% this year to date as geopolitical risks surrounding Middle Eastern conflicts have eased in recent weeks, which has subsequently reduced the pricing risk premium charged to energy purchases globally. As at this writing no further updates on crude oil prices are available for today’s trading session due to Easter Bank Holidays within major economies worldwide (as most of our primary market movers in terms of central banking entities closed for several days).
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