Major Asian indicators showed declines of up to 1.5%. The Shanghai Shanghai Composite index, the Shenzhen Composite index, and the Korean KOSPI lost 0.1%, 0.02%, and 0.18% respectively. Other indicators showed bigger drops. The Hong Kong Hang Seng index fell by 1.19%, the Japan Nikkei 225 decreased by 1.4%, and the Australian S&P/ASX 200 index plummeted by 1.44%.
The negative sentiment in the US markets was the main reason for the decline of the Asia-Pacific region indices. After the release of the latest US inflation data, which turned out to be worse than forecasted, the US stock indicators showed a drop of up to 3%. Inflation in the US showed an increase to 8.2% year-over-year last month, compared to 8.3% posted in August. On a month-to-month basis, prices rose by 0.4% in September against an August increase of 0.1%. According to forecasts, the first indicator was to reach 8.1%, and the second was expected at 0.2%.
The statistics from South Korea also worsened investor sentiment. Thus, the country recorded an increase in exports by 2.7% year-on-year last month, while an increase in imports amounted to 18.6%. These values appeared to be worse than in August. Moreover, the country's trade deficit grew by 3.78 billion Korean won.
Among the components of the Korean KOSPI, Samsung Electronics added 1.1% and Hyundai Motor increased by 0.3%.
At the same time, Chinese authorities at the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party noted signs of improvement in the country's economy in the current quarter. In the previous quarter, China's economy was affected by a number of factors, including new COVID-19 outbreaks, natural disasters, and external causes. Overall, there was an increase in all areas of business activity in industrial production and investment, as well as consumer spending.
The central bank of China allocated £500 billion ($69.6 billion) to finance a program of medium-term lending. The rate remained unchanged at 2.75%.
Among Chinese companies, Tianqi Lithium dropped by 4.4%, Contemporary Amperex fell by 2.8%, as well as Longi Green Energy lost 2%. Alibaba shares were down by 2% and Li Auto decreased by 2.5%.
Meanwhile, Indonesia saw its trade surplus shrink to $4.99 in September from $5.76 billion in August. This figure was lower than expected, falling to $5.3 billion. There is also a decrease in exports by 11% month-on-month and an increase of 20.3% year-on-year. Exports amounted to $24.8 billion, while imports decreased by 10.6% to $19.81 billion compared to levels seen in August.
Among the components of the Japanese Nikkei 225, there was a decrease in SoftBank Group securities, which fell in price by 1.8%. Moreover, Tokyo Electron declined by 1.5%, Shift fell by 9%, as well as M3 and Recruit Holdings lost 4.3% and 3% respectively.
Fast Retailing and Sumitomo Mitsui saw slightly smaller declines, dropping by 1.5% and 1.3% respectively. Toyota Motor and Sony Group also lost 0.7% and 1.1% respectively.
Among Australia's largest companies, BHP Group lost 2.7%, Fortescue Metals dropped by 2.7%, Rio Tinto declined by 2.8%, Woodside Energy lost 2.6%, and Santos decreased by 2.7%.
