Global stocks rally despite inflation concerns

Highlights:

• USA
  The Dow Jones advanced by 0.83%, the selective S&P 500 increased by 0.82%, and the Nasdaq gained 0.92%.
• ASIA
  The Kospi climbed by 1.07% after four days in a row closing in red.
  Hang Seng grew by 1.83% and the Shanghai Composite increased by 0.34%.
  Sensex increased by 1.22% and Nifty added 1.23% in the Indian stock market.
• EUROPE
  STOXX 600 was trading with an increase of 0.5%.

Wall Street shares increased further

Wall Street kept its move upwards on Wednesday. The Dow Jones advanced by 0.83% or 286.01 points to 34,798.00. Meanwhile, the selective S&P 500 increased by 0.82% or 35.63 units to 4,358.69. 

The Nasdaq gained 0.92% or 133.08 points and ended at 14,631.95.

The main Wall Street indices ended Tuesday with clear rises. The Dow Jones had recovered by 1.62%, offsetting a significant part of the losses, when it had suffered its worst session in 8 months.

The main New York indicator is once again near the all-time high it had reached last week.

As for the S&P 500 index, it has gained 15.1% for the year so far, on optimism about a stronger recovery.

A good number of analysts considering the robust recovery of the US economy has fueled strong growth in the stock market.

Energy companies gained more than 3%, supported by the rebound in oil prices. WTI ended the day with an increase of 4.59%, surpassing $70 a barrel.

The oil company Chevron led the gains among the 30 Dow Jones stocks surging 3.40%. Boeing followed it with a rise of 2.54%, and Goldman Sachs advanced by 2.39%.

Company earnings beat expectations

Coca-Cola presented good quarterly results and improved its expectations for the rest of the year. The company ended the session with a 1.25% rise. Meanwhile, Verizon gained 0.65% after making public accounts that also convinced investors.

Johnson & Johnson, which also performed better than expected, closed the session adding 0.55% despite starting the day in the red.

Meanwhile, the market reacted much worse to Netflix accounts, released on Tuesday after the closure. The streaming platform dropped by 3.28% today.

In general, the wave of quarterly results, which started last week, already exceeds high expectations thanks to the rebound in the activity that has lifted most of the restrictions against covid-19 in the United States.

Seoul rebounds after four consecutive declines

The Kospi rebounded after four days down due to the global rise in COVID-19 infections. The main index of the Seoul Stock Exchange climbed by 1.07% or 34.3 points to stand at 3,250.21. 

After four days in a row closing in red, the Kospi today remained on the green the whole day thanks to the bargain hunting. 

Again, foreign and institutional investors were net buyers, with a combined net worth of about 868 billion won or about $755 million. The main South Korean companies were also encouraged by the prospect of good business results in the second quarter.

The technological Samsung Electronics gained 1.53% today. Meanwhile, SK Hynix, the second-largest chipmaker in the country, advanced by 2.14%.

Naver, the operator of the main national internet search engine, grew by 2.8%. Kakao, the company behind the largest South Korean messaging application, rose by 1.72%.

In contrast, in the biopharmaceutical sector, Samsung Biologics lost 1.89%. However, its competitor Celltrion climbed by 0.75%.

Hyundai Motor, the largest South Korean automaker, increased by 0.22%.

Hang Seng advanced supported by the digital companies

Hang Seng grew by 1.83% or 499.26 points to 27,723.84 today due to the advance of large digital companies. Tencent added 1.12%, Alibaba advanced by 2.17%. Meanwhile, Xiaomi gained 1.12%, and Meituan increased by 3.55%.

At the same time, the Hang Seng China Enterprises raised by 1.79%.

All the sub-indices closed in the positive territory. Services added 0.90%, Finance increased by 1.64%, Commerce and Industry hiked by 2.02%, and Real Estate grew by 1.84%.

The day was also good for the automakers. BYD increased by 2.38%, and Geely Auto gained 2.35%. 

As for the few companies that closed in the red, the lens producer Sunny Opticals dropped by 0.93%, making the biggest drop of the day.

The business volume of the session was 137,150 million Hong Kong dollars.

 

Shanghai stocks settled higher

The Shanghai Composite increased by 0.34% at 3,574.73. The blue-chip index added 0.15%. The financial sector grew by 1.12% among its sub-indexes, the CSI all share materials added 2.35%, and the real estate index gained 1.38%. As for the healthcare sector, it sank by 3.64% after three days of substantial gains.

The smaller Shenzhen index added 0.45%. Meanwhile, the ChiNext Composite index lost 0.438%. 

This year, the Shanghai stock index increased by 2.9%, and the CSI300 has dropped by 1.1%. Meanwhile, China’s H-share index listed in Hong Kong yielded 7%. This month, Shanghai stocks have dipped by 0.46%.

European stocks in a positive trade waiting for the ECB 

European stock markets are trading in green due to the strong earnings season. Besides, the session revolves around the European Central Bank meeting, where no changes are expected about the decision of rates.

It is rumoured that the entity could introduce another stimulus of 1 trillion dollars in the economy.

Like the Federal Reserve, the ECB also changed its inflation target to 2% from below but close to 2%. The central bank accepted that the inflation rate could temporarily deviate above or below. Today Lagarde wants to reflect this new strategy, making it clear that the ECB will not make the past mistakes of premature policy tightening. 

STOXX 600 climbed by 0.5%. The benchmark closed with a 1.7% increase on Wednesday and completely recovered from a sharp selloff earlier this week.

Sweden-based private equity firm EQT surged by 9.5% after publishing upbeat first-half earnings.

Swiss engineering company ABB rose by 2.3%, hitting its highest level since November 2007 after doubling its full-year sales forecast.

Unilever Plc, a consumer goods giant, slid by 4.0% after cutting its full-year operating margin outlook because of swelling commodity costs.

Enthusiasm prevailed in the Indian stock market

After heavy losses in the first two trading days of this week, the Indian stock market has shown good strength today. Also, the trading sentiments of the market remain positive. Because of this, the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex was trading with a gain of 628.30 points to 52,827.44 after the initial two hours of trading. At the same time, the NSE Nifty was trading at a level of 15,813.30, adding 181.20 points.

At the close of the trading day, BSE Sensex increased by 1.22% or 638 points to 52,837. Meanwhile, Nifty added 1.23% or 192 points to 15,824. 

Broader markets closed in the positive territory, and smallcap indices outperformed benchmark indices. India VIX settled with a drop of 10% lower. As for Financials and IT stocks, they were among the top gainers on Sensex. Tech Mahindra was the winner of the session, surging by 5.4%. It was followed by Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, and Bajaj Finserv. 

As for declines, the only losers of the day were HUL, Bajaj Auto, Asian Paints, and Mahindra & Mahindra.