On Friday morning (1 August, 9:07 AM, GMT+7, Bangkok time), most indices in Asia Pacific decreased following changes to U.S. tariff rates announced by President Donald Trump, who adjusted “reciprocal” tariffs on multiple countries to between 10% and 41%. South Korean markets were among the hardest hit, registering a steep drop.
In Japan, the country’s unemployment rate remained steady at 2.5% in June, matching both the prior month’s figure and economist projections.
Japan’s NIKKEI fell by 0.39% to 40,910.76. South Korea’s KOSPI plummeted by 2.91% to 3,151.04, and Australia’s ASX 200 contracted by 0.7% to 8,681.8.
As for stocks in China, Shanghai’s SSEC slid by 0.09% to 3,570.17. Hong Kong’s HSI dipped by 0.09% to 24,752.21, while Shenzhen’s SZI surged by 0.35% to 11,048.23.
The U.S. stock markets edged down on Thursday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) declined by 0.74% to 44,130.98. NASDAQ lost 0.03% to 21,122.45, and S&P 500 dropped by 0.37% to 6,339.39. VIX jumped by 8.01% to 16.72.
As for commodities, oil prices settled lower on Thursday, pressured by investor anxiety ahead of the looming August 1 tariff deadline set by U.S. President Donald Trump, as uncertainty persisted over unresolved trade negotiations with several countries.
Brent crude futures for September ended their final session down 71 cents, or 0.97%, closing at $72.53 per barrel, and the U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for September dropped 74 cents, or 1.06%, at $69.26 per barrel.
Meanwhile, Brent futures edged up 4 cents, or 0.06%, to $71.74 a barrel as of 1201 GMT, while the WTI saw a modest increase of 1 cent, or 0.01%, reaching $69.27 per barrel.
This morning, gold futures shrank by 0.5% to $3,331.7 per Troy ounce.
