Global Trends
After a mixed session for Wall Street (the Nasdaq alone was positive for the three main New York indices, which appreciated by 0.27% on Thursday), when trading in Asia reopened, the mixed trend continued, with investors continuing to pause. for the stalemate in the US Congress on the approval of the new stimulus plan for the stars and stripes economy hard hit by the coronavirus epidemic. Contrasting signals also come from the macroeconomic data released by Beijing, which are partially worse than market expectations. And the result is a loss of around 0.10% for the MSCI Asia-Pacific index, excluding Japan.
On the currency front, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, a basket that monitors the American currency against the other ten main currencies, is in moderate decline but the parallel further appreciation of the yen against the greenback does not prevent Tokyo from closing higher: the Nikkei 225 indeed, it gained 0.17% (the opposite sign, however, for the broader Topix index, which depreciated by just 0.05%). On the macroeconomic front, in Japan the tertiary sector activity index fell by 8.6% a year in June, an improvement on the drop of 15.9% in May. On a sequential basis, the index rebounded by 7.9% after the 2.9% contraction of the final reading in May and against the 6.4% increase in the consensus.
Last month, industrial production in China rose by 4.8% a year, as in June but below the 5.0% gain of the Wall Street Journal consensus. Retail sales, on the other hand, recorded a contraction of 1.1% per year, an improvement on the decline of 1.8% in June but against the unchanged reading forecast by economists. Less than an hour before the end of trading, Shanghai Composite and Shanghai Shenzhen Csi 300 are gaining about 0.70% and 1% respectively, against the rise of around 0.60% of the Shenzhen Composite. Hong Kong is also positive: in fact, the Hang Seng earns about 0.50% (the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, a benchmark sub-index in the former British colony, is up around 0.80%). A decline of more than 1% for Seoul’s Kospi, while in Sydney the S & P / ASX 200 recorded a growth of 0.58% at the close.
One of the regions where it is expected to grow the most is the Pacific area. The Asia-Pacific make-up sector was valued at US$18,741. 2 million in 2019 and is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 6. 9% during 2019-2024. Of all the high potential countries in the region, China is expected to grow the fastest in value terms, while South Korea is expected to grow the fastest in volume terms during 2019-2024.
By Domenico Greco
