Global Markets:
- Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei up 0.03%, Shanghai Composite down 0.06%, Hang Seng up 0.14% ASX up 0.57%
- Commodities : Gold at $2796.35 (0.13%), Silver at $31.65 (0.78%), Brent Oil at $75.49 (-0.09%), WTI Oil at $72.64 (0.13%)
- Rates : US 10-year yield at 4.523, UK 10-year yield at 4.6070, Germany 10-year yield at 2.571
News & Data:
- (CAD) Overnight Rate 3.00% vs 3.00% expected
- (USD) Federal Funds Rate 4.50% to 4.50% expected
Markets Update:
Japanese and Australian markets climbed on Thursday, diverging from Wall Street, which fell overnight after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged. Several Asia-Pacific markets remained closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.42%, while the Topix index gained 0.28% amid choppy trading. SoftBank Group shares dipped 0.5% following reports of its discussions to invest up to $25 billion in OpenAI. However, Japanese tech stocks advanced, with Advantest surging 5.12% and Tokyo Electron up 2.03%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.7%, extending its previous session gains. The country’s export price index increased 3.6% in Q4 2024 but declined 8.6% over the year. Import prices edged up 0.2% for the quarter but fell 1.9% annually, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
India’s Nifty 50 opened 0.19% higher, while the BSE Sensex Index started flat.
In the U.S., markets fell after the Fed’s first policy decision of the year. The S&P 500 dropped 0.47% to 6,039.31, the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.51% to 19,632.32, and the Dow Jones shed 136.83 points, or 0.31%, to 44,713.52.
Nvidia tumbled 4.1% after a strong prior session. The stock hit session lows following reports that Trump administration officials had discussed restricting its chip sales to China due to competition from the country’s DeepSeek AI model.
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