Asian Stock Market Showed Mixed Performance Following Wall Street’s Strong Manufacturing Data

In today’s trading session, the Asian stock market is experiencing mixed performance following a retreat on Wall Street. This comes unexpectedly strong as US manufacturing data raises uncertainties about the timing of potential interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. 

Vanke, a Chinese real estate developer listed in Hong Kong shares dropped by 9.6% on Tuesday following last week’s drop of 50.6% in core profits for 2023. In a rare move, state banks were called upon in March to provide financial assistance to Vanke. 

In February, China’s consumer price index increased by 0.7% compared to last year, attributed to increased consumption during the holiday season. However, the producer price index experienced a 2.7% year-on-year decline, indicating ongoing deflationary pressures. 

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index showed steady performance at 39,796.65. According to data released on Monday, Japan’s economy grew by 0.4% in the last quarter of 2023, compared with the initial report of 0.4% contraction in the preceding month. 

In this case, positive economic indicators could prompt Japan to contemplate ending its policy of negative interest rates. 

Stephen Innes from SPI Asset Management stated that the prevailing sentiment suggests that when the Bank of Japan eventually moves away from its negative rates policy, it is expected to show confidence that deflation is no longer a significant concern. In addition, the anticipated interest rate hike is not likely to be a one-time event, which could further boost the Japanese Yen. 

Elsewhere in Asia, the Shanghai composite witnessed a slight drop of 0.08% closing at 3,074.96 while the Hang Seng index showed a staggering increase of 2.36% closing at 16,931.52.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s Kospi went up by 0.19% closing at 2,753.16 and India’s Nifty 50 declined by 0.12% closing at 22,435.75. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 dropped by 0.1% closing at 7,887.90