20/11/2023
Today’s Announcements & News
Asia
Hong Kong stocks led declines in the Asia-Pacific region on Friday, with the Hang Seng index falling 2.12% in the final hour of trading. The Hang Seng Tech index dropped 1.7%, influenced by a nearly 10% plunge in Alibaba’s shares. Despite this, the Hang Seng Index (HSI) was poised to end the week with gains of about 1.5%.
Alibaba announced it would not proceed with the full spinoff of its cloud group due to U.S. chip export restrictions, contributing to the decline in its stock.
In other markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.48% higher, while the Topix added 0.95%, recording weekly gains of 2.33%. South Korea’s Kospi ended 0.74% lower, with the Kosdaq falling 1.50%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 ended 0.13% lower but registered a 1% rise for the week.
Mainland China’s CSI 300 index fell 0.12%, marking the only major Asian market with a weekly decline, down by about 0.6%.
US
The S&P 500 continued its ascent on Friday, securing a third consecutive week of gains in the midst of an impressive November rally. The broader index edged up by 0.13%, settling at 4,514.02. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed marginally higher by 0.01%, ending at 34,947.28, and the Nasdaq Composite inched up by 0.08%, concluding the session at 14,125.48.
All three major indices marked their third straight positive week. The S&P 500 surged by 2.2%, the Nasdaq soared approximately 2.4%, and the Dow clinched a 1.9% advance for the week. This represents the first three-week winning streak for the Dow and S&P 500 since July and the first for the Nasdaq since June.
The recent gains were largely fueled by subdued U.S. inflation figures, sparking hope among investors that the Federal Reserve might be scaling back its stringent stance on interest rates.
November has proven remarkable for stocks, with the S&P 500 rising by 7.6%, the Dow posting a 5.7% gain, and the Nasdaq experiencing a notable 9.9% surge.
Commodity
Gold prices remained relatively stable on Friday, but they closed the week with a substantial gain, benefiting from a weakened dollar and declining Treasury yields amidst growing expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve might conclude its monetary policy tightening.
Spot gold maintained its position at $1,980.13 after earlier reaching a two-week high in the session, ultimately marking an increase of about 2.3% for the week.
U.S. gold futures closed with a marginal decrease of 0.1% at $1,984.70.
Meanwhile, oil prices rebounded on Friday after a significant 5% drop the previous day, attributed to concerns regarding increasing non-OPEC supply and a moderation in demand.
The West Texas Intermediate contract for December surged by $2.21, or 3.03%, reaching $75.11 per barrel. Similarly, the Brent contract for January saw a 3.2% increase, rising by $2.49 to $79.91 a barrel.
The above analysis is only for the views of market researchers and is for reference only and is not regarded as a specific investment suggestion.
