Asian stock indexes closed mostly positive in trading on Thursday. Thus, the Shanghai composite rose by 0.21%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index jumped by 1%, and South Korea's Kospi added 0.33%. Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed 0.58%, while the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia 200 dipped 0.76%.
The growth of Asian indexes was preceded by a decline earlier this week amid negative data on China and Japan. As a result, this led to a decrease in share prices on the stock exchanges. Some investors used the opportunity and began to buy undervalued stocks, using a buy the dip strategy. Meanwhile, other investors are cautious, as the situation in the markets remains highly volatile and there are still many risks.
Such negative factors include, for example, investor fears over the crisis situation faced by the largest Chinese developer China Evergrande Group. They also remain concerned about tightening government regulation in a number of sectors of Chinese business, from the high-tech sector to the regulation of gambling establishments in Macau.
The spread of COVID-19 continues to influence investor sentiment, although, according to the latest data, the situation in Japan has improved. It was one of the reasons for the increase of the Nikkei 225 index.
According to experts, investors should understand that the profitability of shares will slightly decrease in the next few years amid all these events.
On the Chinese stock exchange, the largest increase was shown by shares of companies M3 Inc. (5.1%) and Advantest (2.4%). Sony, SoftBank Group and Fast Retailing added 0.2%, 1.2%, and 0.1% respectively.
Following the growth of the Hong Kong index, the value of securities of Haidilao International Holding Ltd. increased 7.2%, Alibaba Health Information Technology Ltd. gained 6.9%, and Meituan rose 4.4%. Tencent Holdings, Alibaba Group, and Xiaomi Corp. were also up by 2.7%, 2.4%, and 1,6% respectively. At the same time, Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. fell 7.7%.
The South Korea index was boosted by an increase in the share price of countries biggest companies. Samsung Electronics Co. gained 1.3% and Hyundai Motor rose 0.2%. Shares of one of the largest shipbuilders Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. jumped 125% during the first trades after IPO, held at the beginning of September.
The decline in the Australian index was followed by a 3.9% drop in the share price of BHP and a 4.4% decrease in Rio Tinto. Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. lost 11.3% while Whitehaven Coal fell 6.1%.
