Asian Stock Market Mostly Down,Hang Seng Index Continues To Decline; Updates On 2024 National People’s Congress

On Tuesday, March 5th, most Asian stocks dropped as investors opted to secure recent profits from the technology sector. Meanwhile, China’s economic prospects and plans for the year have failed to boost confidence in the country.

Yesterday, the Nikkei 225 closed at the 40,000 mark declaring a new all-time high and lifting most Asian stocks. However, today it appears that most Asian stocks went down. Let’s dive into the latest Asian stock index update. 

Chinese Stocks Stable, Hang Seng Declines Amidst Underwhelming 2024 Targets

Sentiments about China turned negative as Beijing maintained its 2024 GDP target at 5%, the same as last year’s GDP. However, with a reduced fiscal spending target, investors are wondering how would China achieve its GDP goal. 

The targets were discussed during the 2024 National People’s Congress where the government pledges on additional measures to boost consumer spending and confidence. However, these actions showed minimal change from Beijing’s previous assurances of policy support, in which showed little support to the economy. 

The Shanghai index showed a slight increase of 0.28% closing at 3,047.79, while the Nikkei 225 slightly went down by 0.03% at 40,097.63. Hang Seng is down by 2.61% closing at 16,162.64 indicating significant losses. Shenzhen also dropped by 0.23% closing at 9,416.8. Kospi, also fell 0.93% closing at 2,649.4 and ASX 200 also declined by 0.15% closing at 7,724.2.

Nifty 50 also plummeted by 0.22% closing at 22,356.3 and STI dropped by 0.48% closing at 3,107.1. Malaysia’s index also fell by 0.15% closing at 1,536.98 while Taiwan’s index increased by 0.42 closing at 19,386.92.