China Market Update: Middle East Cool Off Heats Up Hong Kong, Week In Review
Asian equities were mixed overnight following yesterday's Trump's Middle East escalation language, which sent risk assets down the elevator. President Trump appears to be giving the Iranian government time to negotiate. The US dollar was mixed versus Asian currencies, though the renminbi/CNY closed below at 7.17 as the PBOC kept the 1 and 5 Year Loan Prime Rate at 3% and 3.5% as expected.
Summer is officially here for traders as S&P and FTSE indices rebalance today, with the latter experiencing elevated volumes across the region as Hong Kong, South Korea, and India outperformed. FTSE's decision to upgrade South Korea to developed markets creates a significant performance disparity from MSCI's emerging markets index. Long MSCI EM and short FTSE EM would be a fun trade to play South Korea's massive rebound.
Alibaba +1.55% was Hong Kong's most heavily traded stock as the company saw its FTSE weight increase, as volumes doubled from yesterday. Alibaba announced 453 brands sold more than RMB 100mm worth of goods during the 618 (June 18th) E-Commerce event. There was a lot of chatter about the government replenishing local government consumer subsidy funds after strong demand, which led to depletion in several cities. Horizon Robotics (9960 HK) fell by 1.86% despite being added to the FTSE indices, though the intraday chart shows the power of passive as massive block trades occurred at the close.
Competitor Unitree appears closer to an Hong Kong IPO after another funding round. Mainland-listed soy sauce maker Foshan Haitian Flavouring & Food Co. relisted on the Hong Kong Exchanges today after raising HK $10.1B ($1.3B). High flyer Pop Mart -3.62% was clipped. While Hong Kong had a strong day following yesterday's debacle, Mainland China was off with index heavyweights such as banks, insurance, liquor, and telecom outperforming, which kept indices from falling further. Shipping and port stocks rebounded in hopes that Middle Eastern tensions would cool off. Otherwise, relatively quiet!
New Content
Read our latest article:
Navigating Global Crosswinds: Carbon Markets Respond to Tariff Tactics and Executive Orders
Please click here to read
Chart1
Chart2
Chart3
Chart4
Chart5
Chart6
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Trump–Putin meeting, retail sales, consumer data: What to Watch
Market Domination Overtime host Josh Lipton takes a look at the top stories for investors to watch on Friday, Aug. 15. President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will be meeting in Alaska for the US–Russia summit around 3:30 p.m. The two leaders are expected to discuss the war in Ukraine and the possibility of peace agreements. Trade between the US and Russia will also be a topic of discussion. US retail sales data for July will be posted in the morning. Economists are expecting in Core retail sales to slow by 0.3% from the previous month. August preliminary consumer sentiment will also be out in the morning, as economists anticipate a slight uptick to 62% from July's 61.7%. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination Overtime. Time now for to watch that would be Friday, August 15th. We're gonna start off on geopolitics. It's been a busy week of inflation data, but now all eyes turning to Alaska for President Trump's summit with President Putin. It is the first face-to-face meeting between US president and Russian counterpart since President Biden met with Putin in June 2021. And the summit could have implications for the war in Ukraine as well as the oil markets. And moving over to the economy, US retail sales data for July, that is coming out on Friday. Commer forecasting total retail sales to hold steady at 0.6%, while core retail sales slow to 0.3% on a month over month basis. The new data signaling that consumers are still spending overall, but underlying spending momentum is softening. And speaking of the consumer, we're going to be getting consumer sentiment data for August on Friday. That number's expected to tick up slightly to 62, giving us more insight into the health of the consumer and signaling that they're feeling slightly more optimistic about the economy.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq futures waver as investors await retail data after rate-cut bets cool
US stock futures traded mixed as Wall Street tempered its rate-cut hopes and awaited July's retail sales report. Futures attached to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) rose around 0.3%. Futures attached to the benchmark S&P 500 (ES=F) flatlined. Futures attached to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) fell about 0.2%. Stocks wobbled on Thursday, ending a two-day rally sparked by investor confidence that an interest rate cut in September was nearly certain. Doubts about a significant cut at the Fed's next policy meeting crept in after July's Producer Price Index (PPI) came in hotter than expected. After the bell, Intel (INTC) shares jumped on news that the US government is considering taking a stake in the company. Trump met with Intel's CEO on Monday after calling on him to resign the previous week. UnitedHealth (UNH) stock also soared after a regulatory filing showed Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought 5 million shares in the company. Finally, Applied Materials (AMAT) dove after its earnings report included a downbeat forecast that spooked investors. On Friday, Wall Street will be watching the release of retail sales data. The results will offer clues as to whether Trump's tariffs are impacting consumer spending habits.
Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Bloomberg
Taiwan to Revise Growth Outlook for First Time Since US Levies
Taiwan is set to revise its estimate for growth in 2025, providing the first glimpse of how it expects the economy to perform since the Trump administration imposed a 20% duty on exports to the US. The statistics bureau in Taipei will release the figure on Friday afternoon, after saying in May it expected an expansion of 3.1%. The median forecast of 22 economists who have made their predictions following the US levies is for 4.1% growth this year.
