Stock Market Today: Asian stocks edged higher

The results season is one of the main catalysts that have moved the markets in recent weeks.

After technology giants such as Apple, Facebook and eBay released their quarterly earnings figures yesterday, almost 225 companies have been accountable to the US market. 

The main macro reference in the session is the US GDP in Q1 points to a growth of the American economy of +.6.6%. GDP and Weekly Unemployment Claims maintain the positive bias.

85% of the firms have beaten the forecasts of the market consensus. Bloomberg revealed profits 25% higher than initially estimated.

It came as a result of the good rate of vaccination. It allows the reopening of the economy. At the same time, the impact of fiscal stimuli (third package of $1,9bn) and a high household savings rate supported the economy.

The Fed remains dovish and declares that it is not time to talk about tapering yet. Yesterday, Biden defended the benefits of an Infrastructure Plan ($2.2bn) and a Plan for Families and Education ($1.8bn) that could bring new stimuli to the economy. 

 

Indian Sensex and Nifty are on a 3-day win streak

Domestic equity markets in India are on a three-day winning streak. However, they could face some volatility today since derivatives are expiring monthly. S&P BSE Sensex currently stands at 49,773 points, while the NSE Nifty of 50 shares holds above 14,850. 

On Thursday morning, SGX Nifty was trading green, hinting at a gap-up start for domestic stocks. Meanwhile, despite a weak close on Wall Street, Asian equity markets rallied slowly during the early hours of trading on Thursday.

Nifty closed just below crucial resistance at 14,900 on Wednesday. Although Nifty was at the critical barrier, there were no signs of reserve gains near resistance on Wednesday. As demonstrated by Nagaraj Shetti, technical research analyst at HDFC Securities, this is a positive indication and more bullish signals in the near term. He added that the short-term trend remains positive.

Technical analysts believe the bulls have made a comeback on Dalal Street with the three-day rally seen in equity markets. Manish Shah, the founder of Niftytriggers, noted that the resilience zone for nifty is 14,980-15000. He added that the monthly expiration could result in selling around resistance levels. A break above 14980-15000 will indicate a rally towards 15310-15400. Support for Nifty is at 14650-14660, any drop in this area is a buying opportunity, he added.

 

Indian Oil Corp. shares contracted by 0.11%

Shares of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. traded with a plunge of 0.11% down in Thursday’s trade. 

The stock opened at Rs 90.05 and reached an intraday high and low of Rs 90.5 and Rs 89.15. The stock of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. quoted a 52-week high of Rs 105.0 and a 52-week low of Rs 71.15.

The total market cap of the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. was Rs 84209.65 crore at the time of writing this report.

 

Hang Seng rallies 0.8% on Fed’s optimistic outlook

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange benchmark index, the Hang Seng, closed today with gains of 0.8%. The increase was supported by the optimistic outlook on the US economy from the Federal Reserve.

The selective added 231.92 points to 29,303.26. Meanwhile, the index that measures the behavior of mainland Chinese companies listed on the Hong Kong stock market, the Hang Seng China Enterprises, advanced 0.32%.

All the sub-indices closed positive: Real Estate and Commerce and Industry added 0.6%. The finance sector increased by 1.05%) and the Services sector gained 1.16%.

Among financial securities, the trading company, HKEX, lost 1.8%. As for the rest, most of the market had a much better day. Highlights were the insurance company AIA with a rise of 3.71% and the bank HSBC which hiked by 1,79%.

In financial terms, the fall of Longfor Group prevented a full green. With an increase of 0.56%, Tencent stood out from the slight losses of Alibaba (0.09%) and Meituan (-0.06%).

The most significant advance of the day was the Asian division of the Budweiser brewer, Budweiser APAC, which gained 4.31%.

Chinese state securities enjoyed a positive session, with gains for operators such as China Mobile. Also, after several unflattering days, oil companies such as Sinopec rose by 1.8%.

The business volume of the session was 119,750 million Hong Kong dollars (15,427 million dollars). 

Seoul down again by 0.26%

The Seoul Stock Exchange fell today. 

The South Korean selective Kospi lost 7.4 points on Thursday to stand at 3,174.07 units. Meanwhile, the Kosdaq technology stock index dropped by 0.76%, or 7.58 points, to close at 990.69 units.

The asset with the highest capitalization of the Seoul Stock Exchange, Samsung Electronics, lost 0.49% today. 

Furthermore, the operator of the largest South Korean internet portal, Naver, fell 1.87%. The operator of the country’s main instant messaging application, Kakao, sank by 2.09%.

On the other hand, in the biopharmaceutical sector, Samsung Biologics advanced 1.14%, although its competitor, the giant Celltrion, contracted by 0.56%.

Hyundai Motor, the main car manufacturer in the country, slipped by 1.81%.

At the end of its monthly meeting on Wednesday, the Fed’s reassuring message gave momentum to the benchmark at the beginning of the session. However, the direction of operations turned in foreign and institutional investors, net sellers today.

The EuroStoxx 50 seeks to set new highs 

Exuberant is probably an appropriate adjective to describe how optimistic analysts are becoming about Europe’s earnings season. Earnings growth expectations at STOXX 600 companies have soared to 71.3% YoY, up from the already impressive 61.2% last week.

Moderate optimism continues to prevail on Europe’s stock markets. After knowing the decision of the US Federal Reserve to keep its monetary policy intact yesterday, everything points to a new session of bullish tranquility in the Old Continent. 

The bulls are looking, once again, for the EuroStoxx 50 to be able to mark new highs for the year and exceed 4,040 points. This is where the last fall began. Thus, this area will ward off fears.