Stock Asia is on the decline today for several reasons. All indicators of the region show a significant decline: Shanghai Composite lost 2.42%, Shenzhen Composite declined even more - by 3.18%. The Hang Seng Index indicator in Hong Kong decreased by 2.69%, the Nikkei 225 indicator in Tokyo - by 1.91%, and the Korean KOSPI - by 1.48%. Trading on the stock exchange in Australia is not conducted today on the occasion of a weekend in the country.
One of the reasons for the negative mood of investors is the identification of new cases of coronavirus in China, which prefers to fight the coronavirus in harsh ways by introducing new restrictive measures. Although there is an increase in morbidity in other countries, there are no such restrictions, so it is highly likely that it will not affect the economic growth of these countries.
Another reason is a significant decline in American indicators. After the stock sell-off that occurred at the end of the week in the United States, investors in Asia may also be less willing to take risks. The situation with the sharp decline in US indices is caused by concerns about further tightening of monetary policy in the country to combat rising inflation.
Among the companies included in the Hang Seng Index, the largest drop in stock prices was shown by Haidilao International Holding, Ltd. (-12.5%), Techtronic Industries Co., Ltd. (-6.7%), Xiaomi Corp. (-5.3%), as well as Geely Automobile Holdings, Ltd. and Anta Sports Products, Ltd. (-5.7% each).
Due to the announcement of an investigation into the former head of China Merchants Bank on suspicion of corruption, stock prices immediately fell by 9.5%.
Individual companies, based on which the Nikkei 225 indicator is calculated, showed a decline in stock prices: SoftBank Group Corp. - by 7.2%, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. - by 5%, Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. - by 5%.
Thanks to the positive reporting of Tokyo Steel for the financial year that ended in March of this year, namely, an increase in net profit by 5.5 times, as well as the launch of a securities repurchase program totaling 3 billion yen (equivalent to 23.3 million US dollars), the value of the company's securities increased by 8.5% at once.
Among the companies that are part of the KOSPI indicator, the quotes of Samsung Electronics Co. (-0.8%), and Kia Corp. slightly decreased. (-0.9%).
At the same time, thanks to the good results of the corporate report for the first quarter of 2022 of Hyundai Motor Co., Ltd., which demonstrated an increase in revenue and operating profit, its stock quotes increased by 0.3%.
