On Thursday morning (25 September, 9:12 AM, GMT+7, Bangkok time), indices in Asia Pacific exhibited a mixed performance, following another session of tech stock sell-offs on Wall Street, notably in companies such as Nvidia and Oracle, amid growing investor doubt regarding the sustainability and potential cyclical risks of the AI sector.
Investors are looking ahead to the release of weekly jobless claims data from the U.S. as mounting worries over a softening labor market and an uptick in layoffs loom large. The figures are seen as potentially pivotal for future monetary policy decisions by the Federal Reserve.
Japan’s NIKKEI surged by 0.33% to 45,782.27. South Korea’s KOSPI traded relatively flat at 3,472.12, while Australia’s ASX 200 slid by 0.04% to 8,760.6.
As for stocks in China, Shanghai’s SSEC dipped by 0.04% to 3,851.94. Shenzhen’s SZI shrank by 0.07% to 13,346.60, while Hong Kong’s HSI added 0.09% to 26,542.85.
The U.S. stock markets edged down on Wednesday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) contracted by 0.37% to 46,121.28. NASDAQ dropped by 0.34% to 22,497.85, and S&P 500 declined by 0.28% to 6,637.97. VIX slumped by 2.76% to 16.18.
As for commodities, oil prices settled higher on Wednesday as an unexpected decline in U.S. weekly crude inventories reinforced market concerns over tightening supply linked to export disruptions in Iraq, Venezuela, and Russia. Brent crude finished up $1.68, or 2.5%, at $69.31 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled $1.58 higher, also up 2.5%, at $64.99.
This morning, Brent futures lost 25 cents, or 0.36%, to $69.06 a barrel, and the WTI decreased 29 cents, or 0.45%, to $64.7 per barrel.
Meanwhile, gold futures edged down 0.07% to $3,765.5 per Troy ounce.
