After Wall Street’s collapse due to weak U.S. sales of housing and a profit warning from a prominent social media company, Asian stock markets were mixed on Wednesday.
While Tokyo and Hong Kong fell, Shanghai and Seoul advanced. Oil prices rose by more than $1 per barrel to remain above $110.
Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index fell 0.8% following Tuesday’s profit warning by Snapchat’s parent company. This prompted investors to dump social media stocks. After April’s plunge in U.S. home sales, construction stocks tumbled.
Jun Rong Yeap, IG’s director of research, stated that “the overall mood in equity market remains largely downbeat”.
The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.1% to 3,074.51 and the Nikkei225 in Tokyo fell 0.1% at 26,713. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell less than 0.1%, to 20,093.33.
Seoul’s Kospi rose 0.7% to 2,623.41, while Sydney’s S&P 200 gained 0.6%, to 7,173.30. While Singapore improved, New Zealand and Jakarta fell.
Investors are worried about the effect of interest rate increases in the United States and other Western countries to cool inflation.
The Federal Reserve will release minutes from its most recent policy meeting on Wednesday to provide insight into its decision-making process.
The S&P 500 dropped to 3,941.48 on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% to 31,928.62.
The S&P has fallen 18% since its Jan. 3 peak, which puts it at the edge of a bearish market or a 20% drop from the previous top.
After the social media selloff, the Nasdaq composite, which is dominated by tech stocks, fell 2.3% to 11,264.45. Snap plunged 43.1% in one day, marking its largest single-day decline ever. Meta, the parent of Facebook, fell 7.6%. Google’s parent dropped 5.1%
Companies and retailers that rely on direct consumer purchases have seen their revenues decline. Target dropped 2.6% and Amazon fell 3.2%.
The pullback slowed the broad rally of the previous day.
The government report that showed April’s sales of new homes fell 26.9% compared to a year ago has caused a slump in homebuilders. KB Home fell 2.7%.
Heavy losses were suffered by cruise lines and travel-related businesses. Carnival lost 10.3%, while Norwegian Cruise Line suffered a 12% decline.
Energy markets saw benchmark crude oil rise $1.28 to $111.05/barrel in electronic trading on New York Mercantile Exchange. On Tuesday, the contract dropped 52 cents to $109.77. Brent crude oil, which is the price basis for international oil trade, rose $1.19 to $111.88 a barrel in London. It was $113.56, up 14 cents from the previous session.
From Tuesday’s 126.82yen, the dollar rose to 127.05yen. From $1.0693, the euro rose to $1.0725.
