Asian Market Shares Plunge, Nikkei 225 Firms Stagnate

Asian Market update: Shares in Asia exchanged lower on an early Friday morning after a lackluster Wall Street stocks report.

Mainland Chinese index Shanghai Composite, along with the Shenzhen Component, dropped 0.2%.

The Hang Seng index, over in Hong Kong, fell 0.5% following reports of its most significant annual drop in exports in June. The country’s exports were last as weak as today’s numbers three and a half years ago.

Wall Street, before the Asian market shares data surfaced, reported lower U.S. stocks at the previous close amid the rise of investors’ concerns on less aggressive Fed rate cuts.

European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi implied a more upbeat outlook on the economy, compared to most investors. He said that there is a low risk of recession in the region.

Some experts perceived Draghi’s message as a refusal from the central bank to go as aggressive as expected in stimulus imposition. They also believed that the U.S. Federal Reserve could follow suit during the meeting on July 30–31.

With regards to soon-to-be-released data, market investors will expectedly focus on U.S. Q2 gross domestic product (GDP) due Friday.

On average, economists assume that the economy slowed by 1.8% in Q2, compared to a previous-quarter 3.1% rate.

However, analysts seem to have a more positive view of the pace of economic growth.

“We forecast GDP grew at an annualized rate of 2.5% in 2Q19, led by strong contributions from consumer spending and government expenditures. In part, historical data that is about to be revised contribute to this forecast,” said the investment banking company, Morgan Stanley.

Cycling back to Asian market shares, the Nikkei 225 index, over in Japan, also decreased by 0.45%.

Losses in the Paper & Pulp, Railway & Bus, and Real Estate sectors weighed the index to further dampening.

Asian shares: Dampened Nikkei 225 Stocks Outnumber Bullish Ones

As the Asian market closed in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 98.40.

Softbank Group gained attention after its announcement of a second Vision Fund directed towards investing in tech firms.

According to the multinational conglomerate, it plans to invest around $38 billion in the fund.

Softbank also has secured a memorandum of understanding for a total of over $108 billion from American tech giants such as Apple Incorporated and Microsoft Corporation.

Among the best performers on the index were Fujitsu Ltd., which increased 9.35% or 735 points to end at 8598 at the market’s close; Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., which added 4.58% or 330 points to trade at 7530; NTT Data Corp., which increased by 2.81% or 39 points to 1429 in late trading sessions.

Asian market investors saw the worst performers of the Japanese index namely, Nisshin Seifun Group Inc., falling 10.74% or 262 points to 2177 as the market closed; Omron Cor, which fell 7.45% or 430 points to halt at 5340; Fuji Electric Co. Ltd., which inched lower by 5.23% or 190 points to 3445.

Weakened stocks ended up in the majority, compared to bullish ones, on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was neutral at 0.00% to 15.18.