2 hours ago
The Hang Seng Index falls over 2%, weighed down by consumer discretionary goods
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell more than 2%, weighed down by the consumer discretionary sector.
Leading the index losses was e-commerce giant JD.com, which fell as much as 12% to its lowest level in a year. Chow Tai Fook Jewelry fell 5.19% and Haidilao lost 4.18%. The automobile group Zhongsheng Group lost 4.94%.
Other index heavyweights are also in the red. Baidu is down 5.17%, while Alibaba and Meituan are down 3.44% and 3.89%, respectively.
Other stocks that dragged the index lower included China Merchants Bank, which fell 1.27%, while Ping An Insurance lost 1.67%. HSBC Holdings also fell 1.42%.
—Lee Ying Shan
6 hours ago
China is experiencing stagnant consumer prices and is falling short of expectations
Consumer prices in China stagnated in September, while the annual decline in factory prices slowed in the third month.
The consumer price index remained unchanged year-on-year in September, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. It was below the median estimate of a 0.2% rise in a Portal poll.
China’s producer price index fell 2.5% from a year earlier, weaker than economists’ expectations for a 2.4% decline.
The subdued prices underscore what China’s leaders described as a “difficult” economic recovery after the country emerged from its draconian zero-Covid lockdowns late last year.
— Clement Tan, Lee Ying Shan
3 hours ago
JD.com shares fall to their lowest level in a year on the prospect of weaker growth
JD.com shares fell to their lowest level in a year, driven by a series of downgrades by brokers and price target revisions on the prospect of weaker retail growth for the Chinese e-commerce giant.
Shares in JD.com fell 12.1% to HK$27.83 in early Friday trading in Hong Kong, lagging the benchmark Hang Seng Index’s 2.1% loss. JD.com’s losses this year have halved the company’s market capitalization since the start of the year.
Morgan Stanley analysts downgraded JD.com to equal weight from overweight, while Jeffries cut his price target on JD.com’s Nasdaq listing from $97 to $80 per share.
—Lee Ying Shan
4 hours ago
China’s exports and imports decline in September
China reported a smaller-than-expected decline in exports in September compared to a year earlier, while imports lagged, according to customs data released on Friday.
Exports fell 6.2% last month from a year earlier, less than Portal forecast of a 7.6% decline. Imports also fell 6.2% in U.S. dollars in September from a year earlier – slightly more than the 6% decline expected in the Portal poll.
China’s exports have fallen year-on-year every month since May this year. The last positive year-on-year import figure was in September last year.
For more please read this story.
—Evelyn Cheng, Lee Ying Shan
6 hours ago
China is experiencing stagnant consumer prices and is falling short of expectations
Consumer prices in China stagnated in September, while the annual decline in factory prices slowed in the third month.
The consumer price index remained unchanged year-on-year in September, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. It was below the median estimate of a 0.2% rise in a Portal poll.
China’s producer price index fell 2.5% from a year earlier, weaker than economists’ expectations for a 2.4% decline.
The subdued prices underscore what China’s leaders described as a “difficult” economic recovery after the country emerged from its draconian zero-Covid lockdowns late last year.
— Clement Tan, Lee Ying Shan
7 hours ago
Singapore is maintaining its monetary policy stance unchanged
The Central Bank of Singapore left its monetary policy unchanged for the second consecutive day and maintained the rate of appreciation of its nominal effective exchange rate band for the Singapore dollar.
The Central Bank of Singapore controls monetary policy through exchange rate settings rather than interest rates.
It controls the Singapore dollar against an undisclosed basket of currencies of its major trading partners and adjusts the pace of its appreciation or depreciation by adjusting the slope, width and center of the currency band. The Monetary Authority of Singapore does not provide details of this range.
Core inflation in the Southeast Asian city-state was 3.4% year-on-year in August, below July’s figures.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore expects core inflation “to decline further to 2.5% to 3.0% year-on-year by December,” it said in a statement on Friday. “The outlook for Singapore’s economy is subdued in the near term but is expected to gradually improve in the second half of 2024.”
—Lee Ying Shan
7 hours ago
Singapore’s GDP grows in the third quarter, exceeding expectations
Singapore’s GDP grew faster than expected, rising 0.7% year-on-year in the third quarter, preliminary government estimates showed.
The construction sector grew 6% year-on-year, expanding on 7.7% growth in the previous quarter.
“The growth was supported by the expansion of construction production in the public and private sectors,” said a statement from the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
In contrast, Singapore’s manufacturing sector contracted by 5%. The weak performance was due to declines in production in all manufacturing clusters except the transportation engineering cluster.
Seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter, Singapore’s GDP grew by 1%, faster than the previous quarter’s growth of 0.1%.
—Lee Ying Shan
8 hours ago
India’s inflation falls to its lowest level in three months
India’s inflation data rose 5.02% year-on-year in September, falling to a three-month low due to lower vegetable prices.
The figure was below expectations of economists polled by Portal for a 5.5% rise and is still above the central bank’s target of 4%.
Just last week, the Reserve Bank of India kept interest rates stable at 6.5%.
—Lee Ying Shan
12 hours ago
According to Wolfe, the Fed needs to bring core inflation below 4% and further decline to stop the rate hikes
According to Chris Senyek, chief investment strategist at Wolfe Research, Thursday’s consumer price report for September was “slightly higher than expected” and wasn’t enough to stop the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates again before the end of 2023.
“We expect the FOMC to expect core inflation to fall below 4% and believe the downward trend will continue to pause and remain in the holding pattern for an extended period of time,” Senyek wrote to clients.
In the medium term, Senyek believes that the delayed effect of the Fed’s rate hikes since March 2022 will ultimately “trigger economic disappointments, increasing recession worries and a downward EPS revision cycle in the coming months” and that falling interest rates will not be enough to offset this downward trend .
—Scott Schnipper, Michael Bloom
8 hours ago
CNBC Pro: ‘Best-Performing Emerging Market’: Analysts Name Stocks to Benefit from India’s Boom
A Zomato delivery driver in New Delhi, India.
Nasir Kachroo | NurPhoto | Getty Images
Stronger economic growth, rising government spending and bottoming out inflation are just a few reasons why many analysts are bullish on India – and asset management firm AllianceBernstein is no exception.
Analysts expect the South Asian country to deliver “one of the highest returns among key markets globally” over the next few years.
AllianceBernstein has unveiled some of its most popular stocks in the country, including two new names on its radar.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
—Amala Balakrishner
8 hours ago
CNBC Pro: “Great Tailwind”: The asset manager is bullish on this under-the-radar AI stock
Stocks related to artificial intelligence rallied as the topic gained traction this year, with investors flocking to favorites like Nvidia and Microsoft.
But according to Deepwater Asset Management, there is an under-the-radar AI stock that will be critical to long-term infrastructure adoption of artificial intelligence.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
– Weizhen Tan
17 hours ago
Demand keeps oil prices under control, says Croft
Oil prices rebounded on Thursday, with futures for U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude rising 1.6% to trade just below $85 a barrel. The move erased some of Wednesday’s declines, with oil still below Monday’s peak and levels seen in late September, when WTI traded above $90 a barrel.
Helima Croft, commodities strategist at RBC Capital Markets, said on “Squawk on the Street” that a report showing a surprise rise in gasoline in the United States last week is helping to keep prices under control, despite fears that The escalating war between Israel and Hamas could disrupt global oil supplies.
“The question is what will prevail this year. This broader concern about the macroeconomic backdrop – a possible weakness in demand – or questions about security of supply,” Croft said.
–Jesse Pound
8 hours ago
CNBC Pro: Birkenstock’s IPO will help another shoe stock jump 65%, analysts say
Birkenstock’s recent initial public offering (IPO) is likely to help boost shares of a British footwear brand, according to Investec analysts.
German footwear brand Birkenstock’s debut on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this week gave investors and analysts their first look at the financials and metrics of a major single-brand footwear company. Using this information as a benchmark, Investec analysts believe there is significant growth potential for a London-listed stock that the market may be underestimating.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
– Ganesh Rao