The Tokyo Stock Exchange was slightly up on Tuesday morning, September 10, after a return of calm on Wall Street, putting into perspective fears of a recession in the United States before the inflation figures this week, while Chinese markets opened in the red. The leading Nikkei index in the Japanese capital gained 0.41% to 36,365.02 points around 01:00 GMT, and the broader Topix index increased by 0.51% to 2,592.99 points.
Stock indices appear to be rebounding after a difficult week amid uncertainty over the health of the U.S. labor market. After an initially negative reaction to the U.S. jobs report released last Friday, traders put the Labor Department’s numbers into perspective. “Investors appeared relatively calm, even optimistic, as they pinned their hopes on the Federal Reserve launching a cycle of easing.”commented Stephen Innes, analyst at SPI Asset Management.
On the foreign exchange market, “Nikkei should closely monitor the dollar’s performance against the yen”commented analyst Toshiyuki Kanayama of Monex. The dollar was up at 143.43 around 0100 GMT from 143.18 yen at 2100 GMT on Monday. The euro was also slightly up at 158.21 yen from 158.00 yen the day before, and was trading at 1.1032 dollars from 1.1035 dollars on Monday.
Wait-and-see climate
A wait-and-see climate should nevertheless prevail on the Japanese markets, with investors now keeping their eyes fixed on consumer prices (CPI) in the United States, expected on Wednesday, followed on Thursday by the meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB).
In addition, Japan’s second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth was revised downwards by the government on Monday to +0.7%, compared to 0.8% initially announced, without however affecting the anticipated recovery of the Japanese economy.
On the stock market, technology sector stocks – the first victims of the fall plunge – accompanied the resumption of purchases of Japanese shares linked to semiconductors. Thus, Tokyo Electron, one of the main stocks in the industry driving the Japanese stock market, was on the rise again (+2.09%), as was Advantest (+0.56%). In addition, banking stocks such as Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (+1.90%), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (+1.52%) or Mizuho (+1.56%) were increasing.
Chinese stock markets in the red
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was down 0.14 percent at 17,172.67 points about an hour after opening at 0230 GMT. The Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.22 percent at 2,730.47 points while the Shenzhen Composite Index was down 0.69 percent at 1,485.97 points.
Alibaba Group announced in a statement Monday that its common shares have been included in the Stock Connect program that facilitates investment “cross-border” between the Hong Kong market and the mainland Chinese stock exchanges (Shanghai and Shenzhen), which will come into effect for it on Tuesday. Mainland Chinese investors will now be able to buy shares in the group in Hong Kong, and have simplified access to international markets via the territory.
On the oil market, the price of a barrel of American WTI gained 0.13% to 68.80 dollars and that of North Sea Brent gained 0.18% to 71.97 dollars around 00:52 GMT.
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