Asian equities mixed after a big night on Wall Street
The Dow Jones and S&P 500 closed at record highs overnight, with the Nasdaq pretty close to it. The huge order from Hertz lifted Tesla stock 12.60% higher into the USD 1 trillion club and Facebook’s earnings and outlook weren’t as gloomy as had been expected. Supply chain and privacy issues may impact Apple, Alphabet and Twitter tonight, but you wouldn’t bet against the first two anyway delivering impressive results. That left the S&P 500 0.47% higher overnight, with the Nasdaq jumping by 0.90% and the Dow Jones climbing 0.18% as tech-dominated proceedings. The music continues playing in Asia, with Nasdaq futures rallying by 0.43%, while S&P 500 minis have risen 0.25% and Dow futures are up 0.13%.
All of this was music to the ears of Japan and South Korean markets, which are showing a much higher correlation to Wall Street, rather than China of late. Strong polling results in Japan, and the SK Hynix results, and a temporary fuel price cut in South Korea are also lifting sentiment. The Nikkei 225 has leapt 1.80% higher, while the Kospi is up 0.65% today.
In China, property developer Modern Land missed a debt payment and that has seen property sector nerves return to China markets. That cloud is tempering optimism across ASEAN today as well. The Shanghai Composite is unchanged with the narrower top 50 down 0.50%. The CSI 300 is also unchanged while the Hang Seng has edged 0.35% lower. China’s national team will probably ensure China equity markets are relatively steady ahead of the central committee meeting, but market nerves will be on edge until Evergrande makes, or doesn’t make, another due payment on October 29th.
Singapore is down 0.25% along with Kuala Lumpur, while Bangkok is unchanged, and Manila is down 0.30%. Jakarta has edged 0.50% higher as coal and natural gas prices soared yesterday. Taipei has bucked the trend and moved 1.0% higher, riding the semiconductor wave. Australian markets are also struggling to shake off the China nerves, with the ASX 200 and All Ordinaries both struggling to a modest 0.10% gain.
