Asia Pacific Stocks Mostly Up while World Shares Down

On Thursday, July 15, Asia Pacific stocks were mostly up. Meanwhile, world shares were down as Fed Chair’s testimony on U.S. Congress turned dovish.

In China, the Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen Component both climbed 0.86% or 30.36 points to $3,558.86 and 0.51% or 76.20 points to $15,132.52, respectively.

This was due to the recently released gross domestic product for the second quarter, which grew 7.90% year over year and 1.30% quarter on quarter.

Additionally, the country’s industrial production soared 8.3% year on year in June, while the unemployment rate remained 5.00%.

In Hong Kong and South Korea, the Hang Seng Index and KOSPI both jumped 1.03% or 287.45 points to $28,074.91 and 0.51% or 16.59 points to $3,281.40, respectively.

Earlier in the day, the Bank of Korea announced that it would keep its interest rate at 0.50%.

While the country’s exports in June grew 39.80% year over year while the imports also grew 40.70% year over year.

On the other hand, Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 1.15%, with a net change of $329.40. This sent the stocks to $28,279.09 per share.

Also, the broader TOPIX Index declined 1.11%, with a net loss of $21.82, sending the stocks below at $1,941.34 per share.

Furthermore, the Bank of Japan will hand down its policy decision on Friday.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fluctuated 0.41% or 30.10 points to $7,324.60.

This is due to lower than expected released data earlier in the day where the employment change, full employment change came at 29,100 and 51 600, respectively.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate reached a better than expected 4.90%. 

Global Stocks

Furthermore, global stocks are down as most Asia Pacific shares were down while the U.S. was undecisive and the EU all fluctuated.

In Germany, which is Europe’s largest economy, the DAX and MDAX Performance Index declined 0.004% to $15,789 and 0.420% to $34,776, respectively.

This was followed by London’s FTSE 100 index, which sank 0.47% at $7,091 and FTSE All-Share Index, which also plunged 0.52% at $4,050.

In the United States, the benchmarks S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average both increased 0.13% at $34,933 and 0.12% at $4,374, respectively.

While the NASDAQ Composite Index decreased 0.22% with a net change of $32.70. This sent the stocks to the bottom at $14,645 per share.

Lastly, the MSCI World Index, which was last updated on July 14, tumbled 0.02% with a net loss of 0.69 points to $3,058.59 per share.