Equity markets yesterday were mixed as investors weighed the effects of the assassination attempt on former US president Donald Trump with data suggesting it has boosted his chances of being re-elected president.
Eyes are also on a key meeting of China’s top leadership in Beijing, with hopes for measures to boost the world’s No. 2 economy, which grew less than expected in the second quarter.
Investors struggled to extend the rally enjoyed on Wall Street last week, where all three main indices ended on a positive note, despite a forecast-topping read on US wholesale prices.
Photo: AFP
The figures were not enough to overshadow Thursday’s news that the US consumer price index had slowed more than expected last month, which ramped up bets on a US Federal Reserve interest rate cut in September.
However, investors are keeping a close eye on developments in the US after Trump was on Saturday wounded at a rally ahead of the Republican National Convention this week.
While the odds of him beating US President Joe Biden had been rising in the past few weeks, they got an extra lift from the shooting.
Observers said a Trump victory could lead to lower corporate taxes — a boost for companies’ bottom lines — but also an increase in tensions with China with fresh tariffs possible.
“The assassination attempt might lead to a temporary boost in the polls for Trump, but a lot can change before November,” Moody’s Analytics economist Katrina Ell said. “Financial markets are expected to soon refocus on the Federal Reserve and the growing likelihood of a rate cut in September.”
Equity markets were mixed yesterday, with the TAIEX closing down 37.57 points, or 0.16 percent, at 23,879.36 in Taipei.
Shares in Hong Kong, Wellington, Bangkok and Jakarta also dropped, along with those in London, Paris and Frankfurt, while in Shanghai, Seoul, Mumbai, Sydney, Singapore and Manila, shares rose.
The US dollar yesterday rose, having softened last week owing to the prospect of lower rates. A potential return of Trump as the next US president might bring bad news for emerging-market currencies, given the threat of his protectionist economic policies.
The won led the broader declines in Asia and the New Taiwan dollar also edged lower. Indonesia’s rupiah and Thailand’s baht snapped eight days of gains, while Malaysia’s ringgit slipped from its highest level in January. Meanwhile, Mexico’s peso fell 0.8 percent and the South African rand was down 0.6 percent.
Official data showed the Chinese economy expanded just 4.7 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, well below the 5.1 percent forecast in a survey by Bloomberg and short of the government’s 5 percent goal.
Separately, retail sales slowed sharply last month as the country’s army of consumers remained cautious.
The “data releases showed that the road to 5 percent growth remains difficult, and more fiscal and monetary policy support will be needed in the second half of the year if this year’s key growth target is to be achieved,” ING Bank NV chief economist for Greater China Lynn Song (宋林) said.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
NO BREAKTHROUGH? More substantial ‘deliverables,’ such as tariff reductions, would likely be saved for a meeting between Trump and Xi later this year, a trade expert said China launched two probes targeting the US semiconductor sector on Saturday ahead of talks between the two nations in Spain this week on trade, national security and the ownership of social media platform TikTok. China’s Ministry of Commerce announced an anti-dumping investigation into certain analog integrated circuits (ICs) imported from the US. The investigation is to target some commodity interface ICs and gate driver ICs, which are commonly made by US companies such as Texas Instruments Inc and ON Semiconductor Corp. The ministry also announced an anti-discrimination probe into US measures against China’s chip sector. US measures such as export curbs and tariffs
The US on Friday penalized two Chinese firms that acquired US chipmaking equipment for China’s top chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯國際), including them among 32 entities that were added to the US Department of Commerce’s restricted trade list, a US government posting showed. Twenty-three of the 32 are in China. GMC Semiconductor Technology (Wuxi) Co (吉姆西半導體科技) and Jicun Semiconductor Technology (Shanghai) Co (吉存半導體科技) were placed on the list, formally known as the Entity List, for acquiring equipment for SMIC Northern Integrated Circuit Manufacturing (Beijing) Corp (中芯北方積體電路) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International (Beijing) Corp (中芯北京), the US Federal Register posting said. The
India’s ban of online money-based games could drive addicts to unregulated apps and offshore platforms that pose new financial and social risks, fantasy-sports gaming experts say. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government banned real-money online games late last month, citing financial losses and addiction, leading to a shutdown of many apps offering paid fantasy cricket, rummy and poker games. “Many will move to offshore platforms, because of the addictive nature — they will find alternate means to get that dopamine hit,” said Viren Hemrajani, a Mumbai-based fantasy cricket analyst. “It [also] leads to fraud and scams, because everything is now
MORTGAGE WORRIES: About 34% of respondents to a survey said they would approach multiple lenders to pay for a home, while 29.2% said they would ask family for help New housing projects in Taiwan’s six special municipalities, as well as Hsinchu city and county, are projected to total NT$710.65 billion (US$23.61 billion) in the upcoming fall sales season, a record 30 percent decrease from a year earlier, as tighter mortgage rules prompt developers to pull back, property listing platform 591.com (591新建案) said yesterday. The number of projects has also fallen to 312, a more than 20 percent decrease year-on-year, underscoring weakening sentiment and momentum amid lingering policy and financing headwinds. New Taipei City and Taoyuan bucked the downturn in project value, while Taipei, Hsinchu city and county, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung
RSS