The positive close on Wall Street does not do much to assist Asian stocks. However, it is true that futures on US stock indices are currently negative, with those on the Dow Jones losing more than 110 points. The Shanghai Stock Exchange is closed for the Golden Week holidays.
The Nikkei 225 index of the Tokyo stock exchange is under pressure, falling by about 1% within minutes of the close of trading; Hong Kong loses -0.40%, Sidney -0.58%, Seoul loses more than 1%.
Yesterday the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 311.75 points to 34,314.67 points, while the S&P 500 rose 1.05% to 4,345.72 points; the Nasdaq Composite posted a 1.25% rise to 14,433.83.
Attention, in the Asia-Pacific area, to the announcement of the
Central Bank of New Zealand – Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) -, which today raised official interest rates to 0.50%, thus confirming itself, together with South Korea and Norway, among the top central banks which have raised rates since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Rates, which increased by a quarter of a percentage point, were raised for the first time in seven years. The central bank also announced that this is just the beginning of a cycle of monetary tightening.
Following the announcement of monetary tightening, the New Zealand dollar rallied above the $ 0.697 mark before retracing to around $ 0.6929.