On Wednesday morning (3 December, 9:18 AM, GMT+7, Bangkok time), most major indices in Asia Pacific exhibited an upward trend, following gains in U.S. equities driven by a rebound in technology stocks and rising momentum in cryptocurrency markets.
Bitcoin surged over 7% overnight, surpassing $90,000 after a steep decline the previous day, with the digital asset last changing hands at $91,462.
In economic updates, South Korea’s central bank reported that the nation’s economy expanded by 1.8% year-on-year in the third quarter, an upward revision from the preliminary estimate of 1.7%.
Meanwhile, Australia posted a 2.1% annual increase in GDP, its largest since the third quarter of 2023, though this result missed the 2.2% forecast by economists surveyed by Reuters.
Japan’s NIKKEI advanced by 0.75% to 49,674.82. South Korea’s KOSPI jumped by 1.31% to 4,047.46, and Australia’s ASX 200 climbed by 0.12% to 8,590.00.
As for stocks in China, Shanghai’s SSEC slid by 0.16% to 3,891.41. Hong Kong’s HSI dropped by 0.81% to 25,884.35, while Shenzhen’s SZI rose by 0.15% to 13,076.72.
The U.S. stock markets edged up on Tuesday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) grew by 0.39% to 47,474.46. NASDAQ surged by 0.59% to 23,413.67, and S&P 500 gained 0.25% to 6,829.37. VIX fell by 3.77% to 16.59.
As for commodities, oil prices settled lower on Tuesday as investors assessed diminishing prospects for peace between Russia and Ukraine alongside concerns about potential oversupply. Brent crude futures ended the session down 72 cents, or 1.14%, at $62.45 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude also slipped, declining 68 cents, or 1.15%, to settle at $58.64 per barrel.
This morning, Brent crude futures dipped 11 cents, or 0.18%, to $62.34 per barrel, and the WTI lost 10 cents, or 0.17%, to $58.54 per barrel.
Meanwhile, gold futures added 0.79% to $4,254.20 per Troy ounce.
