Asian shares have posted gains on Tuesday, mainly due to the positive direction Wall Street took, boosting the sentiments of investors. Boosting US equities is optimistic corporate earnings along with growing expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut rates next month, less aggressively than initially thought.
Nikkei 225 had gone up 1%, hitting a three-week high. Broader Asia-Pacific indexes, meanwhile, added 0.2% in MSCI. Taiwan and Australia were also up, while the People’s Bank of China’s Chinese markets lagged, where blue-chip stocks shed 0.4%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 0.3%. There were concerns ahead, as investors are looking for tangible stimulus measures from Beijing to boost the economy that has started to slow.
On its part, oil prices fell by close to 3%, as Brent crude slipped to $75.19 per barrel while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) slid to $71.60 per barrel. This decline was largely driven by news that Israel was unlikely to attack the oil infrastructure of Iran, hence did not have much need to boost on supply disruption fears.
OPEC’s lowered forecast for growth in oil demand worldwide for 2024 and 2025 further put downward pressure on oil prices, as did China, which was a major player in the revision on account of weaker-than-expected economic performance.
