On Friday morning (25 July, 9:20 AM, GMT+7, Bangkok time), major indices in Asia Pacific showed mixed performance as investors monitored developments on the global trade and inflation data from Japan.
Consumer prices in Tokyo rose by 2.9% in July, marking a slowdown from June’s 3.1% increase. Core inflation—which excludes fresh food—also cooled to 2.9%, down from 3.1% seen in the previous month, and came in lower than the 3% forecast by economists surveyed by Reuters.
Japan’s NIKKEI dropped by 0.62% to 41,565.96. Australia’s ASX 200 declined by 0.55% to 8,661.7, while South Korea’s KOSPI gained 0.28% to 3,199.49.
As for stocks in China, Shanghai’s SSEC dipped by 0.05% to 3,604.08. Hong Kong’s HSI fell by 0.46% to 25,549.44, while Shenzhen’s SZI climbed by 0.08% to 11,201.89.
The U.S. stock markets edged up on Thursday as NASDAQ grew by 0.18% to 21,057.96. S&P 500 rose by 0.07% to 6,363.35, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) contracted by 0.7% to 44,693.91. VIX increased by 0.13% to 15.39.
As for commodities, oil prices settled higher on Thursday, buoyed by a larger-than-anticipated decline in U.S. crude inventories and anticipation of reduced Russian gasoline exports. These factors outweighed reports that Chevron is set to receive U.S. authorization to resume oil production in Venezuela. Brent futures increased 67 cents or 0.98% to $69.18 a barrel, and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) added 78 cents or 1.20% to $66.03 per barrel.
This morning, Brent futures surged 42 cents or 0.61% to $69.6 a barrel, and the WTI futures gained 41 cents or 0.62% to $66.44 per barrel.
Meanwhile, gold futures slid by 0.12% to $3,369.4 per Troy ounce.
