Asian Markets Recover only to Close Mixed

Markets in the Asian and Pacific Rime were mixed by afternoon trade after a short lived recovery stalled. Oil prices jumped up one percent and the US Dollar weakened.

Asian markets did see a technical rebound today. It was not strong given the political uncertainty in the US and fall in oil prices, which are two bearish undercurrents which will weaken market sentiment for now. This is a technical rebound that will not be long lived.

In Australia, the ASX 200 was down marginally by 3.4 points. There were gains in the gold sub-index, which was up 3.4 percent and the energy sub-index which rose 0.7 percent. In South Korea, stocks rose 0.39 percent, on mostly early gains.

South Korea, Asia’s fourth largest economy faces a lot of domestic headwinds, from shipping reform, natural disasters to a presidential crisis. There was a cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday. The new finance minister designate, Yim Jong-yong, said he would keep an accommodative monetary and macro policy in order to stabilize the country’s economy.

Shanghai Up as Asian Markets See a Mixed Day

In China, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.8 percent and the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index rose over one percent. Before market open, the Caixin services PMI showed a nice pickup in October. The PMI came in at 52.4 for the month.

In Hong Kong, stocks on the Hang Seng Index were down modestly and financial markets in Japan were closed for the Culture Day holiday. They will reopen tomorrow.