AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
IND
Summary
- Markets in green as investors react to data from Australia and China.
- South Korean markets are the outperformers.
- Thai and Hong Kong markets are in the red.
The equity markets in Asia Pacific (APAC) region were mostly trading in the green on back of strong data coming in from Australia and China.
In Australia, ASX200 was up 71 basis points after the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that the retail sales rose 1.1% month-on-month in April. The country, on Wednesday, claimed that it had managed to shake off the economic hit taken due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Mainland China, the Shanghai Composite index firmed up by 38 bps while the Shenzhen component was up 45 bps in the Thursday’s trade.
In China, a private survey showed slowdown in the services sector in May as well. According to the Caixin/Markit, the Purchasing Managers’ Index for the month came in at 55.1 – a drop from 56.3 reported in April. Despite this, the number was well above the threshold level of 50, that separates expansion from contraction.
In the Chinese autonomous region of Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was down by 34 bps. Other than Hong Kong, there was only one index that was trading in red – the Thai SET Index, which was down 6 bps.
South Korean KOPSI was the best performer in the region – up 89 bps.
Elsewhere in Taipei, the Taiwan Weighted Index was trading up by 51 bps.
In India, the BSE Sensex was up 46 bps and nearing its historic peak of 52,516.76 points, even as the country has been ravaged by COVID-19 and very slow pace of vaccinations.
