Asia’s cautious equity mood continues

Mixed mood in Asian equity markets

With most of the region back at work today, Asian markets have refused to blindly piggyback New York’s overnight rally higher, even as the omicron relief rally gathers steam. The Indonesia coal export ban and the suspension of Evergrande shares yesterday left plenty of two-way risk on the table for Asia, especially where China is concerned.  Overnight, Wall Street powered higher, led by Tesla and Apple. The S&P 500 rose by 0.53%, the Nasdaq rallied by 1.03%, and the Dow Jones climbed by 0.68%. Futures remain unchanged on all three indexes in Asian trading.

Wall Street’s performance has green-lighted gains in Japan today, but Asia is still displaying a mixed performance. The Nikkei 225 is 1.35%, higher even as the Kospi falls by 0.45%. Property and energy nerves are sweeping Chinese markets, as well as a partial virus shut-down of the city of Zhengzhou, booster requirements in Hong Kong and tighter information security requirements for companies wishing to IPO overseas. With that number of headwinds, it is not surprising that China is in the red. The Shanghai Composite is 0.65% lower, the CSI 300 is 1.20% lower and Hong Kong is down 0.25%.

Singapore has jumped 1.0% higher after impressive GDP data yesterday, with Taiwan also performing well, climbing 0.90%. Jakarta has risen by 0.65%, but Kuala Lumpur has fallen by -0.70%, with Manila down 1.10%, while Bangkok has climbed 1.10%, Australian markets have jumped on the Wall Street rally, helped by low hospitalisation rates as omicron sweeps the country. The All Ordinaries are 0.77% higher, with the ASX 200 rising by 0.87%.

With an underlying omicron is omigone theme pervading, today should see a positive start to European trading.

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