Rising Oil Prices Weighed on Stock Market Sentiment

Highlights:

• • USA
    The Dow Jones fell by 0.72% or 250.19 points, to 34,496.06. Meanwhile, the selective S&P 500 shed 0.69% or 30.15 points, to 4,361.19. The Nasdaq lost 0.64% or 93.34 points, to 14,486.20.
  • ASIA
    The Nikkei slid by 0.94% or 267.59 points, to 28,230.61.
    The Kospi lost 1.35% or 39.92 points, closing at the level of 2,916.38.
    Hang Seng closed with losses of 1.43% or 362.5 points to 24,962.59.
  • EUROPE
    The EuroStoxx 50 index was trading with a drop of 0.84%, the FTSEurofirst 300 yielded 0.85%, and the Stoxx 600 shrank by 0.65%.

Wall Street falls before quarterly results

Wall Street closed in the negative territory on Monday.

At the end of the session, the Dow Jones fell by 0.72% or 250.19 points, to 34,496.06.

Meanwhile, the selective S&P 500 shed 0.69% or 30.15 points, to 4,361.19. The Nasdaq lost 0.64% or 93.34 points, to 14,486.20.

Disruptions in the global supply chain and soaring energy prices are fueling market nervousness ahead of the first quarterly earnings releases. It will begin on Wednesday with JP Morgan bank, whose stock fell by 2.1%. 

The S&P banking and energy sector indices fell.

Bond markets were closed Monday for Columbus Day, a public holiday in the United States.

By sector, the greatest losers were communications companies, dropping by 1.45%. Public services shed 1.34%, and financial companies lost 1.01%. Meanwhile, only the real estate sector rose by 0.17%, and basic materials added a slight 0.03%.

Among the 30 companies listed on the Dow Jones, the decline in Visa was the most significant, dropping by 2.34%. JPMorgan slipped by 2.10%, Verizon cut by 1.99%, and Goldman Sachs yielded 1.93%.

As for the companies which finished in the green, Home Depot was the leader climbing by 0.79%. Salesforce followed it by a rise of 0.47%.

The pharmaceutical company Merck fell by 0.84% ​​after requesting an emergency authorization from the federal government for its pill against Covid-19.

 

Nikkei fell for the first time in four days

The Tokyo stock market fell on Tuesday. On Topix, 9 industries increased such as mining, petroleum and coal, non-ferrous metals, steel, and rubber. Twenty-four industries dropped, including electricity and gas, air transportation, retail, land transportation, and warehousing.

The Tokyo stock market started the day with losses, influenced by concerns about the price of fuel in the US and a strong dollar against the yen. Stocks in other parts of Asia also remained weak. 

The Nikkei average fell for the first time in four days, sliding by 0.94% or 267.59 points, to 28,230.61. Meanwhile, the Topix index dropped by 0.70% or 13.90 points to 1,982.68 units. 

The technology giant Softbank accumulated the largest number of operations and fell by 2.41%. It was followed by the shipping company Nippon Yusen, which also lost 0.38%.

Semiconductor component maker Lasertec and Uniqlo clothing chain parent Fast Retailing lost 0.98% and 3.27%, respectively.

The automotive manufacturer Toyota managed to register a rise of 0.78%.

Financial stocks such as Mizuho and Mitsubishi UFJ were negative. On the other hand, steel and non-ferrous stocks such as JFE and Sumitomo Mine were strong.

The Kospi closed in the red for the 2nd day in a row

The Kospi lost 1.35% or 39.92 points, closing at the level of 2,916.38.

The main topic on the stock market today was inflation concerns due to rising energy prices. 

The Kosdaq lost 1.36% or 12.96 points, to close at 940.15. 

Foreigners sold a net 824 billion won worth of stocks, while institutions sold 200 billion won. Retail investors purchased 980 billion won, keeping the Kospi from falling further. 

 Besides surging oil prices, the coal shortage in China also created anxiety of less output of industrial metals like aluminum. 

Most shares slumped. Samsung Electronics plunged by 3.5% to 69,000 won. Kakao fell by 3.4% to 113,500 won. Meanwhile, Kakao Bank dropped by 2.98% to 55,300 won. 

Chipmaker SK Hynix declined by 2.66% to 91,500 won, and automaker Hyundai Motor shed 0.24% to 204,500 won. 

 As for the gains, LG Chem jumped by 4.19% to 796,000 won. Besides, refiner SK Innovation climbed by 3.43% to 256,500 won. 

Pharmaceutical firm Samsung Biologics hiked up by 0.48% to 834,000 won. 

Tech companies weighed on the Hong Kong stock market

Hang Seng closed with losses of 1.43% or 362.5 points to 24,962.59. The session was marked by the poor performance of technology companies, which yielded part of the earnings obtained in the previous day.

Meanwhile, the Hang Seng China Enterprises slid by 1.67%. 

Among the sub-indices, only real estate survived losses and gained 0.7%. In contrast, services shed a slight 0.01%, finance lost 0.91%, and commerce and industry plunged by 2.15%. 

Digital leaders registered significant declines. Alibaba was the most affected, plummeting by 3.87%. Meituan followed it with a drop of 3.03%. Meanwhile, Tencent yielded 2.58%.

In the financial area, the insurance company Ping An collapsed, losing 5.18%. Meanwhile, in the real estate sector, Country Garden rebounded by 3.33%.

Chinese state securities ended in the red. China Mobile lost 0.62%, and oil company Cnooc settled with a decline of 2.36%.

Most of the Southeast Asian stock markets ended their sessions with the majority of increases. The Singapore and Philippine stocks were the only exceptions.

In Singapore, the city-state stock market fell by 0.05% or 1.44 points to 3,112.05.

In Indonesia, the Jakarta stock advanced by 0.41% or 26.57 points, and the JCI index finished with 6,486.27.

Furthermore, in Malaysia, the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange gained 0.83% or 13.09 points, to 1,583.91.

In Thailand, the Bangkok stock increased by 0.62 or 10.20 points, to 1,643.64.

In the Philippines, the Manila Stock Exchange fell by 0.23% or 16.19 integers, and the PSEi composite index ended at 7,107.82.

Addtionally, in Vietnam, the Ho Chi Minh stock index closed with a rise of 0.05%, or 0.71 points to 1,394.80.

European stocks are cautious before quarterly results

The main European stock markets retreated at the start of the trading session amid persistent fears of inflation before the release of quarterly results. 

The EuroStoxx 50 index was trading with a drop of 0.84%, the FTSEurofirst 300 yielded 0.85%, and the Stoxx 600 shrank by 0.65%.

The main focus of attention today was the German ZEW Economic Sentiment index for October. It already fell sharply in September, and in October, it collapsed again from 26.5 to 22.3, while economists expected a level of 24.00.