Stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region mostly reflect positive dynamics. The major stock indexes, with rare exceptions, are growing. However, investors continue to Express cautious optimism amid some suspension of the rapid growth of the US stock market. There are all signs that the rally has come to an end.
Market participants began to take a more measured approach to their own work, as the enthusiasm that covered the sites last week and at the beginning of this week gradually began to pass. Investors have moved to moderate and cautious behavior.
On Wednesday, the US stock markets unexpectedly showed multidirectional dynamics for analysts, although all previous days there was a fairly significant increase. The reason for the sharp slowdown was the release of another batch of statistics on the country's economy, which were not so encouraging. The problems in the economy have not disappeared and instead continued to worsen. The US market is closed on Thursday due to the celebration of Thanksgiving.
The positive mood in the markets that prevailed last week and at the beginning of this week was based on the news about the release of a vaccine against coronavirus infection. However, the fact that this will not happen in the near future has caused investors to cool down a little. Moreover, the continued increase in new cases of infection has made market participants doubt that the vaccine will be able to radically, and most importantly, quickly change the complex epidemiological situation in the world.
Japan's Nikkei 225 Index rose 0.9%.
China's Shanghai Composite index is insignificant but still added 0.06%. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index supported the positive trend and rose 0.2%.
South Korea's KOSPI index was up 0.75%. The country's main regulator - the South Korean Central Bank - decided not to change the base interest rate on Thursday and left it at a record low level of 0.5%. The reason was the ongoing crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, it should be noted that the forecast for the state's GDP for the current year was even slightly improved in comparison with previous indicators. So, the indicator is expected to decrease to 1.1%, while it was previously stated that the fall would happen to 1.3%. In addition, the forecast for the next year has also been revised: an average growth of 3% is expected instead of the 2.8% rise mentioned earlier.
The Australian S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 0.7%, breaking a series of positive sessions that lasted four days in a row. It is the only indicator in the region with negative dynamics.
European stock markets, on the contrary, are in disarray. The major stock indexes do not move too intensively and in different directions. There was a pause for thought in this region as well. Statistics on the number of new cases of coronavirus infection have again come to the fore for investors.
In Germany, the number of cases has increased by more than 22,200 over the past day. A day earlier, the number of cases recorded was 18,600. The total number of infected is now 983,000 cases. All this is pushing the government to maintain, and in some cases even tighten quarantine measures during the Holiday season.
Globally, the total number of new cases of coronavirus infection already totals more than 60 million in the last 24 hours alone. This figure increased by more than 587,000. Of course, this situation can't help but strain investors who are pinning so much hope on the imminent release of the coronavirus vaccine. However, now it is worth looking at things sensibly, and then it becomes clear that a drastic change in the situation will not happen in the next few months.
The general index of large enterprises in the European region STOXX Europe 600 declined slightly by 0.05%, which moved it to the level of 391.91 points.
The UK FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.5%. On the other hand, the German DAX index gained 0.06%. France's CAC 40 index sank 0.03%. Italy's FTSE Index gained 0.05%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index parted from 0.64%.
