The Nikkei 225 index on the Tokyo stock exchange closed down by 0.78% at 26,910.87 points. The Shanghai Stock Exchange loses 0.21%, Hong Kong is -0.92%. Sidney positive exception with + 0.16%, Seoul flat.
The Ukraine crisis is always in the foreground: among the latest news, while in the Donbass, shooting continues, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart Joe Biden have “accepted in principle” to meet at a summit, proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron.
The condition, Paris specified, is that the summit will take place “only if Russia does not invade Ukraine”.
The winds of war drowned global equities this month, with the S&P 500 index dropping 3.6% in February, while the Nasdaq Composite plunged 4.8%. WTI oil jumped 4.2%.
From the macro front of China, the data relating to the prices of new homes was disclosed, which in January, for the first time since September, rose on a monthly basis.
The average rise in house prices in the country’s 70 main cities was + 0.1% mom, compared to -0.2% in December.
The People’s Bank of China – the central bank of China – also confirmed the one-year loan prime rate (LPR) at 3.7%. The five-year rate was left unchanged at 4.6%.
LPR rates are the benchmark lending rates that are set monthly by 18 Chinese banks. Today Wall Street will be closed on the occasion of the national holiday of Presidents’ Day.