China Indexes Halt 4-day Slide, Core Machine Orders In Japan Decline

Arjun Pandit
18 Jan, 2024
Mumbai

In Asia, market indexes in China continued to drift lower, and indexes in Japan and Korea advanced.

Tensions remained high in the Middle East, and Pakistan recalled its ambassador from Tehran and expelled the Iranian envoy in Islamabad, a day after Iran carried out a missile strike in Panjgur, Balochista

The U.S. military carried out strikes on 14 missiles that were ready to be launched from Yemen by Houthi rebels, the Central Command said in a post on its social media channel on X.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index rebounded 0.5% to 15,343.88 after falling in the previous four sessions in a row and extended 2024 losses to 10%, the worst start since 2016.

Alibaba Group, Baidu, and Netease advanced between 1.4% and 2.0% amid a rise in tech stocks.

In mainland China trading, the CSI 300 index declined 0.6% to 3,208.91 as foreign investors continued to lower their holdings of Chinese stocks on protracted property market woes and a weakening economic growth backdrop.

The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo declined 0.1% to 35,440.01 after investors continued to unwind bets on rate-cut hopes in the U.S. and Europe and focus on domestic corporate earnings.

The Nikkei extended losses to the third day in a row, but tech stocks rebounded after falling in two previous sessions and the yen struggled near 148 against the U.S. dollar.

Core machinery orders in Japan declined seasonally by 4.9% from the previous month in November to 816.7 billion yen, the Cabinet Office said on Thursday.

That was well shy of expectations of a 0.8% decrease following the 0.7 percent increase in October.

On a yearly basis, orders declined 5.0% in the month after falling 2.2% in the previous month.

Advantest jumped 3.5% to ¥5,351.0, Screen Holdings added 0.5% to 12,895.0, and Tokyo Electron gained 0.7% to ¥26,575.0.

SoftBank declined 0.8% to ¥6,471.0, and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing edged slightly lower, 0.07% to ¥38,720.0.

Elsewhere in the region, the KOSPI index in Seoul added 0.2% to 2,440.38, and the ASX 200 index in Sydney fell 0.6% to 7,346.50.

 

India Stocks Extend Losses After Mixed Quarterly Results

Stocks in Mumbai edged lower for the second day in a row, and investors confronted elevated tensions in the Middle East, mixed corporate earnings results, and the latest comments from RBI Governor Das.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das said economic growth in the current fiscal year is likely to reach 7%, and the central bank is confident of inflation reaching its target rate of 4% in the near term.

Governor Das commented on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, an annual four-day gathering of 2,800 business and world leaders and policymakers.

Governor Das added that when inflation is close to 6%, it is premature to talk about lowering the interest rate, and the central bank's policy has to remain "actively disinflationary."

The central bank also plans to build its foreign exchange reserve from the current level of $617 billion to meet sudden and unpredictable capital outflows witnessed during the global bond market jitters of 2013, when the U.S. Federal Reserve announced its plan to taper off its monetary stimulus.

 

India Targets $100 Billion In Annual FDI Flow 

India is looking to attract more foreign investment as the country's economic growth picks up and the government ramps up infrastructure investment.

India is looking to increase its foreign direct investment to $100 billion over the next few years as the government targets electronics manufacturing and advanced technology-driven projects, Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. 

India attracted $71 billion in the financial year ending in March 2023 and has attracted $66 billion in the fiscal first half ending in September 2023.