On Thursday morning (31 July, 9:15 AM, GMT+7, Bangkok time), most indices in Asia Pacific exhibited a downward trend, with market participants digesting Washington’s latest move to levy a blanket 15% tariff on South Korean imports while also eyeing the outcome of the Bank of Japan’s policy review.
The BOJ is largely anticipated to maintain its short-term interest rate at 0.5% for a fourth straight meeting after concluding its two-day discussion later today.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. will impose a 15% tariff on South Korean imports, scaling back from an earlier 25% rate. Under the deal, South Korea has also pledged to invest $350 billion in U.S. projects chosen by Trump and commit to buying $100 billion worth of American energy products.
The Federal Reserve opted to keep interest rates steady in the range of 4.25% to 4.50%, but two governors broke from the majority, marking the first instance of a double dissident at the central bank since 1993. The move underscored a growing split among policymakers over the future direction of monetary policy.
Japan’s NIKKEI rose by 0.7% to 40,941.25. South Korea’s KOSPI added 0.04% to 3,255.71, while Australia’s ASX 200 dropped by 0.28% to 8,731.9.
As for stocks in China, Shanghai’s SSEC fell by 0.82% to 3,586.21. Hong Kong’s HSI slumped by 1.39% to 24,827.38, and Shenzhen’s SZI decreased by 0.39% to 11,159.14.
The U.S. stock markets edged down on Wednesday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) lost 0.38% to 44,461.28. S&P 500 declined by 0.12% to 6,362.9, while NASDAQ expanded by 0.15% to 21,129.67. VIX plummeted by 3.13% to 15.48.
As for commodities, oil prices settled higher on Wednesday, supported by investor attention to President Donald Trump’s accelerated deadline for Russia to halt its military actions in Ukraine, along with his warnings of imposing tariffs on nations continuing to trade Russian oil. Brent futures gained 73 cents or 1.01% to $73.24 a barrel, and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) increased 79 cents or 1.14% to $70 per barrel.
This morning, Brent futures slid 9 cents or 0.12% to $73.15 a barrel, while the WTI futures climbed 2 cents or 0.03% to $70.02 per barrel.
Meanwhile, gold futures contracted by 0.24% to $3,344.6 per Troy ounce.
