05/01/2024 – 5:53
By Sergio Caldas*
São Paulo, 01/05/2024 – Asian stock markets closed mostly lower this Friday, with investors showing caution ahead of the US employment report, the so-called payroll, which has a strong influence on the trajectory of American interest rates.
Markets in mainland China led losses in the region today, 1.34% in the case of the Shenzhen Composite, at 1,773.42 points, and 0.85% in the Shanghai Composite, the main local index, at 2,929.18 points.
Elsewhere in Asia, the Hang Seng fell 0.66% in Hong Kong to 16,535.33 points, while South Korea's Kospi fell 0.35% in Seoul to 2,578.08 points, and the Taiex registered a modest decline of 0.17% in Taiwan, at 17,519.14 points.
As an exception, the Japanese Nikkei rose 0.27% in Tokyo, to 33,377.42 points, after falling in the previous session upon returning from the year-end holidays.
The prevailing caution in Asia comes before the US releases job creation data for December. According to analysts compiled by Broadcast Projections, the world's largest economy created 175,000 jobs last month. Yesterday, ADP research on vacancies created only by the North American private sector surprised upwards, cooling bets for cuts in US interest rates this year.
ADP and other strong US indicators – which challenge the prospect of monetary relaxation throughout 2024 – weighed on New York stock exchanges, which ended yesterday's trading with no single direction.
In Oceania, the Australian stock market was slightly in the red today, in its third negative session. The S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.07% in Sydney, to 7,489.10 points.
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*With information from Dow Jones Newswires
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