Asia-Pacific markets trade mixed; dollar index reaches new two-decade high
Shares in the Asia-Pacific traded mixed on Monday as the U.S. dollar strengthened sharply in Asia trade. Oil prices rose more than 2% ahead of an OPEC+ meeting slated to take place Sept. 5. The G-7 reached an agreement to put a cap on Russian oil prices over the weekend.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.1% in the final hour of trade, leading losses regionally with electric vehicle and tech stocks weighing on the index. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.11% to close at 27,619.61 and the Topix index was fractionally lower at 1,928.79.
The Shenzhen Component in mainland China dipped 0.202% to 11,678.69, but the Shanghai Composite rose 0.42% to 3,199.91.
China’s Caixin Services Purchasing Managers’ Index came in at 55.0, compared with July’s print of 55.5.
In South Korea, the Kospi shed 0.24% to 2,403.68 while S&P/ASX 200 in Australia gained 0.34% to 6,852.20. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.55% lower.
IEF Secretary General Joseph McMonigle said actors other than just the OPEC+ need to start increasing oil production.
“A lot of people think the gap between supply and demand is all OPEC or OPEC+, but half of that is still from U.S. producers who are not coming in and who are not producing at the same levels they were pre-Covid,” he elaborated.
McMonigle added the greatest challenge of imposing oil price cap on Russia proposed by the G-7 is “getting countries like India and China, and Russia of course, to participate.”
