Asian Stocks
Stocks across the Asian region were seen swinging in between gains and losses on Thursday after China posted figures for the country’s services PMI, which rose to a six-year high. Meanwhile, private data released yesterday showed that companies in the US added more workers than forecasted.
Japan
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index edged 0.14% lower, closing the session at 15,348.29 points, while Tokyo’s Topix index slid 0.17% lower, ending at 1,278.59 points.
Dai-ichi life insurance lost 2.3% to 1,502 yen after reports showed that the Japanese life insurer will approve a share sale of 250 billion yen to acquire Protective Life Corp. Pioneer saw the most gains during the session, with shares climbed 5.31% higher, while the Japanese Petroleum & Metals conglomerate JX Holdings fell 4.14%.
China
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 0.15% to 23,515.16 points at the time of writing, while the Chinese benchmark Shanghai Composite added 0.18% to 2,063.08 points.
Property developers New World Development and China Overseas gained 1.77% and 1.74% respectively, while the global sourcing firm Li&Fung plummeted 10% to HK$10.48.
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China’s service sector data from the HSBC Bank and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing non-manufacturing were released on Thursday. Reports showed that the Purchasing Managers Index slightly fell in June to 55 points from 55.5 seen in the previous month, while HSBC’s Purchasing Managers’ Index rose from 50.7 in the previous month to 53.1 points in June.
The South Korean benchmark Kospi index slid 0.21% lower, closing at 2,010.97 points.
Australia
In Sydney, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.75% lower, ending the session at 5,496.40 points. Australia’s services provider Worley Parsons advanced 6%, while shares in Beadell Resources lost 2.08%.
Australia’s retail sales in May fell 0.5%, compared to the 0.1% decline recorded in the previous month, a report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed.
The nation’s local currency weakened after the Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens suggested the aussie was overvalued.
“When judged against current and likely future trends in the terms of trade, and Australia’s still high costs of production relative to those elsewhere in the world, most measurements would say it is overvalued, and not by just a few cents,” Stevens said.
US Economy
281,000 new jobs were added to the US private sector in June, compared to analysts expectation of 205,000 and the previous figure of 179,000 recorded in May, report from the ADP Research Institute showed on Wednesday.
A report from the Labour Department due later in the day is expected to show non-farm payrolls rose by 215,000 in June. The unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 6.3% in June.
A separate report released showed that factory orders in the US declined 0.5% in May.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said the current US monetary policy doesn’t need to be changed, addressing worries over financial stability.
European Stocks
Equities markets in Europe were little changed on Thursday as investors focus on the European Central meeting and some of the region’s largest economies report their services Purchasing Managers’ Indices (PMI).
The European Euro Stoxx 50 edged 0.01% higher at 3,252.51 at the time of writing, while Germany’s DAX added 0.10% to 9,920. The French CAC 40 gained 0.03% to 4,446.01, while UK’s benchmark FTSE 100 rpse 0.14% to 6,826.01.
ECB Meeting
The European Central Bank is expected to announce an end of sterilization of bank’s Securities Market Program and re-introduce a series of targeted Long-Term Refinancing Operations worth 400 billion euros at their July meeting.
ECB Officials will also be holding votes over the eurozone’s monetary policy and expected to maintain the central bank’s interest rate after cutting it to 0.15%.
Services PMI Reports
Spain’s services PMI dropped to 54.8 points in June, compared to the 55.7 reported in the previous month, Markit Economics said.
Germany is expected to report a fall to 54.2 points in June, from 56 in May, while Italy’s services sector is projected to have risen to 52 points from 51.6 in May.
Figures for the eurozone’s services sector is forecasted to show a fall to 52.8 points from 53.2 seen in the previous month.
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