Asia-Pacific markets were mixed as investors digested economic data from Japan and Australia.
Quad leaders also canceled a planned meeting in Sydney next week as U.S. President Joe Biden cut his Asia trip short to return to the U.S. for talks on the debt ceiling.
Hong Kong’s stocks saw a sharp sell-off in its final hours of trade, with Hang Seng index trading nearly 2% lower in Wednesday’s afternoon session. Healthcare, real estate, and consumer cyclical stocks led declines, Refinitiv data showed.
Investors further digested China’s new home prices that fell 0.2% year-on-year in April. Mainland China stocks also fell, with the Shanghai Composite ticking 0.21% lower, ending at 3,284.23 and the Shenzhen Component seeing marginal declines to close at 11,091.08.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.84% – exceeding the psychological level of 30,000 and closing at 30,093.59. The Topix was up 0.3% and closed at 2,133.61, as Japan stocks surged to the highest since August 1990.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.58% and finished at 2,492.66, while the Kosdaq jumped 2.14% to end the day at 834.19. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.49% lower at 7,199.2, with mining stocks leading the losses.
| TICKER | COMPANY | NAME | PRICE | CHANGE | %CHANGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| .N225 | Nikkei 225 Index | *NIKKEI | 31086.82 | 278.47 | 0.9 |
| .HSI | Hang Seng Index | *HSI | 19678.17 | 227.6 | 1.17 |
| .AXJO | S&P/ASX 200 | *ASX 200 | 7263.3 | -16.2 | -0.22 |
| .SSEC | Shanghai | *SHANGHAI | 3296.47 | 12.93 | 0.39 |
| .KS11 | KOSPI Index | *KOSPI | 2557.08 | 19.29 | 0.76 |
| .FTFCNBCA | CNBC 100 ASIA IDX | *CNBC 100 | 8330.42 | 61.1 | 0.74 |
Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes dipped as investors turned its attention to a meeting between congressional leaders and President Joe Biden on the U.S. debt ceiling.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed below its 50-day average for the first time since March 30, falling 1.01%. The S&P 500 fell 0.64%, and the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.18%.
— CNBC’s Sarah Min and Brian Evans contributed to this report
WED, MAY 17 202312:34 AM EDT
Chinese yuan surpasses 7-mark as economic data misses
The offshore Chinese yuan weakened further to 7.0061 against the greenback, breaching the 7-mark for the first time in 2023 on Wednesday morning.
The onshore yuan also weakened 0.18% to 6.9913 against the U.S. dollar as investors further digested China’s economic data that missed estimates on Tuesday.
Home prices in China fell, with prices 0.2% lower year-on-year, compared to a 0.8% decline seen in the previous month, according to Reuters’ calculations.
US Dollar/Chinese Renminbi FX Spot Rate
RT Quote | Exchange
7.0286
+0.0226 (+0.32%)
Last | 5:32 AM EDT
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– Jihye Lee
WED, MAY 17 20232:11 AM EDT
IMF says Singapore’s growth momentum has slowed
The International Monetary Fund said Singapore’s growth momentum has recently slowed in recent months.
This comes on the back of the economy’s preliminary gross domestic product falling 2.7% in the first quarter of the year compared to the previous quarter.
The seasonally adjusted reading is expected to be released later this month.
“Monetary policy is appropriately tight and should maintain its tightening bias to rein in inflation while facilitating a soft landing,” the IMF’s mission to Singapore said Wednesday.
“The tighter fiscal stance in 2023 will help moderate inflationary pressure,” the IMF said, adding Singapore’s financial sector “remains sound – buttressed by rigorous monitoring and supervision. Should downside risks materialize, Singapore can deploy its ample fiscal buffers judiciously.”
Singapore’s core consumer price index rose 5% in March, showing inflation has slightly moderated from February and January’s rate of 5.5%
– Jihye Lee
WED, MAY 17 20231:11 AM EDT
Australia’s wage price index rose 3.7% in the first quarter
Australia’s wage price index rose 3.6% year-on-year in the first quarter of the year, government data showed. The reading was higher than the previous period when the wage price index rose 3.3% year-on-year.
Quarter-on-quarter, the nation’s wage price index rose 0.8%, slightly below expectations to see growth of 0.9%, according to a Reuters poll of economists.
The Australian dollar strengthened marginally to 0.6658 against the greenback.
– Jihye Lee
TUE, MAY 16 20239:38 PM EDT
Quad meeting in Sydney called off as Biden shortens trip
Quad leaders will not be going ahead with their meeting in Sydney next week, Australia’s prime minister Anthony Albanese said, according to Reuters.
Australia was set to host the U.S., India, Japan for the 2023 Quad Leaders’ Summit on May 24.
This comes after U.S. President Joe Biden cut short his Asia trip to return to the U.S. for negotiations with congressional leaders on the debt ceiling.
– Jihye Lee
TUE, MAY 16 20239:37 PM EDT
CNBC Pro: Morgan Stanley says Tesla among the EV stocks to benefit as supply chain shift
Morgan Stanley has identified several stocks to invest in as electric vehicle battery manufacturing shifts to the West.
As countries aim to reduce their dependency on China, which currently dominates 90% of the EV battery market, they will need to create a new supply chain for a decarbonized future, according to the Wall Street bank.
It identified a number of potential winners and losers from the process.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Ganesh Rao
TUE, MAY 16 20239:37 PM EDT
CNBC Pro: Citi names its top biotech and pharma stock picks, giving one nearly 90% upside
The healthcare sector outperformed in Europe, India and China last month, according to Citi.
The bank named its top buy-rated picks worldwide, including some with big potential upside.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Weizhen Tan
TUE, MAY 16 20239:09 PM EDT
Singapore non-oil domestic exports posts surprise monthly rise in April, total trade
Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports in April grew 2.7% compared to the month before, a surprise upside compared to the 3% contraction that economists polled by Reuters were expecting.
On a year-on-year basis however, non-oil domestic exports fell 9.8%, more than the economists’ expectations of 9.4%.
This was mainly due to a decline in exports to China, Taiwan and Malaysia, although exports to the U.S., the European Union and South Korea rose.
Singapore’s total trade fell to SG$100.3 billion in April, a 18.8% year-on-year drop and extending the 8.6% decrease in March.
Compared to April 2022, total exports declined by 18.1% and total imports contracted by 19.5%.
— Lim Hui Jie
TUE, MAY 16 20238:03 PM EDT
Japan’s economy sees most quarter-on-quarter growth in three periods
Japan’s economy grew 1.6% in the first quarter of the year on an annualized basis, economic data showed on Tuesday.
The reading was higher than expectations of seeing an annualized growth of 0.7% from a Reuters poll of economists.
Quarter-on-quarter, the economy grew 0.4%, also higher than forecasts to see 0.1% growth.
The Japanese yen slightly strengthened marginally and last traded at 136.38 against the greenback.
USD/JPY
RT Quote | Exchange
137.84
-0.11 (-0.0797%)
Last | 5:35 AM EDT
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– Jihye Lee
TUE, MAY 16 202312:51 PM EDT
Fed’s Mester says policymakers should ‘stick with what we’re doing’
Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester said Tuesday that inflation is too high for the central bank to change directions on policy now.
“We’ve seen inflation move down from a year ago from last summer,” she said during an appearance at the Central Bank of Ireland, according to a transcript of the event. “But it’s still very high in the U.S. and I think that we just have to stick with what we’re doing. Because the long run implications for high inflation on the US economy are not good.”
A nonvoting member on the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, Mester added that she’d like to see rates at a place where a cut or increase would be equally likely as the next move.
“The question, you know, in my mind is have we gotten to that rate yet? And at this point, given the data we’ve gotten so far, I would say no, I don’t think we’re at that rate yet,” she said.
—Jeff Cox
TUE, MAY 16 202312:27 PM EDT
Energy, utilities stocks are the biggest laggards
Energy and utilities stocks were the biggest laggards in the S&P 500 on Tuesday, with each sector down 2.5% and 1.9%, respectively.
APA, Halliburton and Schlumberger N.V. share all declined. They were each down more than 3%.
AES fell 4.7%, while Dominion Energy declined 2.7%.
— Sarah Min
TUE, MAY 16 20239:02 AM EDT
Berkshire adds $126 million to its Occidental stake
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway bought more Occidental Petroleum in the past few days, a new regulatory filing showed.
The conglomerate added $126 million to its Occidental stake on Thursday, Friday and Monday at an average price of $58.06 per share, the filing showed.
The “Oracle of Omaha” said earlier this month that Berkshire won’t take full control of Occidental even though he kept adding to the bet. In August last year, Berkshire received regulatory approval to purchase as much as a 50%.
— Yun Li
TUE, MAY 16 20238:44 AM EDT
Retail sales rose 0.4% in April, less than expected
Retail sales increased less than expected in April as a decline at gas stations hit the headline number, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.
Spending rose 0.4% for the month, below the Dow Jones estimate for 0.8%. The numbers are not adjusted for inflation, so the monthly gain, combined with the 0.4% increase in the consumer price index, showed that spending just kept up with inflation pace.
Excluding auto-related components, sales rose 0.4%, in line with expectations. A 0.8% decrease in gas station sales held back the total, as did a 3.3% decline at sporting goods, musical and book stores. Miscellaneous stores and online sales led gainers.