- With Chinese officials removing support for the stock market, Asian markets got off to a positive start.
- The Shanghai Composite Index increased by 0.3% to 2,918.81.
- A 0.4% decline to 15,455.36 was caused by the Nasdaq composite’s weakness in tech firms.
Asian markets got off to a good start this week when Chinese officials announced steps to stabilize the nation’s collapsing stock markets and forced heavily indebted real estate developer China Evergrande to go through liquidation.
While the Shanghai Composite index increased by 0.3% to 2,918.81, the Hong Kong Hang Seng saw a 0.9% gain to 16,102.05. China’s securities regulator declared on Monday that the government will stop lending some shares for short sales as a way to help the nation’s collapsing stock markets.
Asian stocks
The highly indebted developer had requested time and time again from the authorities to try and resolve its offshore problems. With its liabilities exceeding $300 billion, Evergrande can challenge the ruling.
While the Kospi in South Korea surged 1.5% to 2,507.50, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index increased 1.1% to 36,121.09. The SET increased 0.2% in Bangkok, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 went up 0.3% to 7,576.60.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.2% to 38,109.43, while the S&P 500 decreased 0.1% to 4,890.97. A 0.4% decline to 15,455.36 was caused by the Nasdaq composite’s weakness in tech firms.
Despite announcing a bigger profit for the final three months of 2023 than analysts had anticipated, Intel led semiconductor stocks lower. Even though KLA, a chip industry supplier, posted better-than-expected quarterly profits, tech stocks were nonetheless negatively impacted.
According to the most recent data, December’s total inflation rate, which is 2.6%, matched November’s rate, and the Fed’s preferred inflation measure performed almost exactly as predicted.
