On Tuesday morning (5 August, 9:08 AM, GMT+7, Bangkok time), indices in Asia Pacific increased across the region following comments from U.S. President Donald Trump indicating a major hike in tariffs targeting Indian exports. The move comes after Washington expressed disapproval over New Delhi’s ongoing crude purchases from Russia.
The White House has taken issue with India’s continued acquisition of Russian oil amid the conflict in Ukraine, alleging that the country is reselling a significant portion of this oil on global markets at a hefty profit. In response, Indian officials dismissed the criticism as baseless and pledged to defend the nation’s trade interests.
South Korea’s inflation rate eased to 2.1% in July, down marginally from June’s 2.2%. On a month-over-month basis, the consumer price index logged a 0.2% gain, the sharpest increase in four months following flat inflation in June. The latest readings were broadly in line with analysts’ projections, which had forecast a 2.13% annual and 0.22% monthly rise.
Japan’s NIKKEI rose by 0.54% to 40,509.34. South Korea’s KOSPI jumped by 1.38% to 3,191.34, and Australia’s ASX 200 grew by 1.06% to 8,755.6.
As for stocks in China, Shanghai’s SSEC surged by 0.38% to 3,596.84. Hong Kong’s HSI climbed by 0.12% to 24,762.6, and Shenzhen’s SZI added 0.28% to 11,071.93.
The U.S. stock markets edged up on Monday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) gained 1.34% to 44,173.64. NASDAQ increased by 1.95% to 21,053.58, and S&P 500 soared by 1.47% to 6,329.94. VIX plummeted by 14.03% to 17.52.
As for commodities, oil prices settled lower on Monday after OPEC+ signaled a significant production boost for September, intensifying worries about a supply glut. Sentiment was further weighed down by recent U.S. data pointing to tepid fuel demand in the world’s largest oil consumer. Brent futures declined 91 cents or 1.3% to $68.76 a barrel, and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) lost $1.04 or 1.5% to $66.29 per barrel.
This morning, Brent futures slid 2 cents or 0.03% to $68.74 a barrel, and the WTI futures shrank 2 cents or 0.03% to $66.27 per barrel.
Meanwhile, gold futures rose by 0.25% to $3,434.8 per Troy ounce.
