03/28/2024 – 6:05
By Sergio Caldas*
São Paulo, 03/28/2024 – The Asian and Pacific stock exchanges closed without a single direction this Thursday, with the Chinese ones benefiting from an improvement in sentiment and the Tokyo ones under pressure from shares traded ex-dividend. The Australian secured a new historic high, before the Easter holidays.
In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite index rose 0.59% to 3,010.66 points, and the less comprehensive Shenzhen Composite advanced 1.72% to 1,732.61 points, as investors became more upbeat after Chinese president, Xi Jinping, defend closer commercial ties with the USA, during a meeting yesterday with the main American business leaders in Beijing, and ensure that the second largest economy in the world has not yet reached its peak.
In a note to clients, Citi raised its forecast for the rise in China's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) this year, from 4.6% to 5%, assessing that the Asian giant had a solid performance at the beginning of 2024, despite the continued weakness in the real estate sector and having been partially favored by the leap year effect.
The Hang Seng was also in the black today, rising 0.91% in Hong Kong, to 16,541.42 points, helped by technology shares.
On the other hand, the Japanese Nikkei fell 1.46% in Tokyo, to 40,168.07 points, on a day in which several shares were traded ex-dividend and amid uncertainty about possible intervention by the Japanese government in the foreign exchange market, after the yen hit almost 34-year lows against the dollar yesterday.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea's Kospi fell 0.34% in Seoul, to 2,745.82 points, and Taiex gave up 0.27% in Taiwan, to 20,146.55 points.
In Oceania, the Australian stock market ended the first quarter at an all-time high. The S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.99% in Sydney, to an unprecedented level of 7,896.90 points, accumulating gains of 4% between January and March. Business in Australia will only resume on Tuesday (02), after the extended Easter holiday.
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*With information from Dow Jones Newswires
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