BANGKOK (AP) – Asian stocks were mixed on Tuesday ahead of this week’s Federal Reserve interest rate decision, with Hong Kong and Shanghai leading the decline.
US futures prices fell and crude oil prices rose slightly.
Shares of Chinese real estate development companies Evergrande GroupThe world’s most indebted real estate company, with over $300 billion in debt, remained suspended after a Hong Kong court ordered it to be liquidated as insolvent.
However, shares in China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group rose 7% as the company resumed trading after being suspended on Monday as well. Evergrande Real Estate Services fell 1.3%.
In Hong Kong, other property companies led the decline, with the benchmark Hang Seng Index falling 2.4% to 15,694.69. Country Garden fell 3.3% and Sunac China Holdings fell 7.1%. Guangzhou R&F Properties fell 5.5%.
Technology companies also fell, with food delivery company Meituan falling 2.8% and e-commerce giant Alibaba falling 1.9%.
The Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.8% to 2,830.53.
Chinese regulators are moving to prop up a market that has been the world’s worst performer so far this year amid concerns not only about the real estate industry’s woes but also about slowing growth in the world’s second-largest economy. .
“There is deep-seated skepticism about plans to prevent stock prices from plummeting,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a comment. “Measures that resemble a band-aid on a broken leg may temporarily boost stock prices, but they do little to stabilize earnings or promote growth.”
Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.1% to 36,065.68, while South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.1% to 2,503.00. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.3% to 7,600.20.
Bangkok’s SET was little changed, while India’s Sensex fell 0.5%.
U.S. stocks rose on Monday as Wall Street’s most influential stocks began the week showing whether the huge expectations built against them were justified.
The S&P 500 index rose 0.8% to a new record of 4,927.93. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6% to $38,333.45, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.1% to $15,628.04.
Big tech stocks, a key reason the S&P 500 index has soared more than 35% to an all-time high since the fall of two years ago, will feature prominently in this week’s earnings calls. This includes Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft.
on wednesday, The Fed will make the next decision Regarding what to do about interest rates. Traders expect policy to remain in place, but expect a rate cut at the next meeting in March. This will be the first rate cut since the Fed began significantly raising interest rates two years ago in an effort to curb inflation.
A wave of encouraging data has Wall Street believing the dream scenario is coming true. That means the Fed will be able to successfully overcome high inflation and deliver the rate cuts that investors desperately need, while also keeping the economy from sliding into the recession that seemed inevitable last year.
On Friday, the U.S. government releases its latest monthly update on the job market. Economists expect employment to continue to grow, but at a slower pace. This is exactly what the Fed wants, since too much growth could mean upward pressure on inflation.
So far this earnings season, stocks have not risen as much as in previous years, even though companies have beat analyst estimates.
Archer Daniels Midland jumps 5.6% in S&P 500 index to recoup some of steep declines from last week after announcing it is putting its chief financial officer on leave and investigating some of its accounting practices It was the biggest increase.
On the losing side of Wall Street, i robot The stock fell 8.8% after Amazon agreed to halt its acquisition following scrutiny from antitrust regulators.
In other trading Tuesday, benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 16 cents to $76.95 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell $1.23 on Monday to settle at $76.78 per barrel.
Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 9 cents per barrel to $81.92 per barrel.
The dollar fell from 147.50 yen to 147.18 yen. The euro fell to $1.0822 from $1.0835.