Today, Asian indices declined by up to 3%. In general, they showed slight declines. The Korean KOSPI decreased by 0.29%, and the Chinese Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen Composite indices dropped by 0.63% and 0.59% respectively. The Australian S&P/ASX 200 and Hong Kong Hang Seng Index were among the top losers, plummeting by 1.77% and 2.9% respectively. Japan's stock exchanges are closed today because of the holiday but yesterday Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped by 0.06%.
Asian indicators traditionally follow the US indices, which showed a decline of up to 3.3%. This was due to the release of the US Federal Reserve's decision to raise the rate by 0.75%, to 3.75-4%.
Although the increase coincided with experts' forecasts, investors fear an economic downturn, as the rate reached a record high for 14 years. In addition, the Fed chairman's statement warned them that the central regulator had no plans to reduce the pace of rate hikes so far. Thus, the risk of a recession is getting higher but the Fed is going to continue its policy in order to bring inflation under control. Softer monetary policy, according to the head of the Fed, will be discussed either at the next meeting in December or as early as next year.
According to the fresh data, China's PMI declined last month to 48.3 points from September's level of 48.5 points. If this indicator falls below 50 points, it indicates a decrease in business activity. Experts note that such a value was due to the country's strict policy against the spread of the coronavirus.
Due to the fact that Lenovo Group managed to increase its net profit by 6% in the second quarter of the fiscal year, while its revenue decreased by 4%, its share price declined by 0.8%.
CanSino Biologics, Inc.'s stock price plummeted by 26.5% after the company announced that it was not expected to increase profits from sales of China's first inhalation vaccine against coronavirus due to the high level of competition and an overall decline in demand.
Following this statement, other representatives of the pharmaceutical industry also showed declines. Securities of CSPC Pharmaceutical Group, Ltd. fell by 10.1%, and Sino Biopharmaceutical, Ltd. dropped by 5.9%.
Also among the components of the Hong Kong Hang Seng index, Netease, Inc. slipped by 6.7%, Sands China, Ltd. lost 6.1% as well as Alibaba Group Holding, Ltd. fell by 6%.
Among the components of the Korean KOSPI, Samsung Electronics dropped by 0.8%, as well as Hyundai Motor lost 2.1%.
The Australian S&P/ASX 200 index also showed declines. BHP lost 3.1% and Rio Tinto declined by 2.3%.
