AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
IND
Summary
- The equity markets in APAC have opened in the red.
- Investors are guarded after the OPEC deal.
- China, Australia and Japan were the worst performing markets in the morning; Hong Kong was the best.
The equity markets across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region opened in the red, with losses extending to over 1%, as investors tracked oil prices after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) deal.
China, Japan and Australia seemed to be the worst-hit markets – in the morning trade.
In Mainland China, the Shanghai Composite Index was down by 1 basis point, while the Shenzhen Component tanked 1.5%. However, in the Chinese Special Administrative Region (SAR) of Hong Kong, the Hang Seng was the best performing major index across the region – up 39 basis points.
In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei225 Index collapsed 1.16%, while Topix index was down 1.15%. The country is set to host Tokyo Olympics this week, amid state of emergency as COVID-19 woes seem to have resurfaced in the APAC region.
Down south, in Australia, the benchmark ASX200 was down 1.14%. Elsewhere in South Korea, the KOPSI index was down 93 basis points.
The Morgan Stanley Capital International’s APAC index was also trading down 56 basis points at the time of filing this copy.
The investors were guarded as OPEC and its allies reached a deal yesterday to phase out 5.8 million barrels per day of oil production cuts by September 2022. Gradual increases in oil supply from the group – known as OPEC plus – will start in August, the organisation said.
The decision by the conglomerate came as international benchmark Brent crude futures have surged more than 40% year-to-date in 2021. The jump in crude oil prices has been triggered by soaring demand for crude as the global economy recovers from the pandemic.
The Brent Crude Futures, at the time of filing this copy, were down 60 basis points.
