Major Asia-Pacific markets closed mixed on Wednesday, while shares of China’s most indebted property developer Evergrande and some of its units soared.
Chinese markets were muted. The Shanghai composite closed just above the flatline to 3,532.62, while the Shenzhen component was down 0.24% to 15,021.17. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.21% in the final hour of trade.
Shares of China Evergrande jumped more than 8% in the afternoon after the company said in a filing that it was in discussions to sell stakes in its units which include Evergrande Property Services and Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group.
Shares of Evergrande Property Services surged more than 12% in the afternoon, while the new energy vehicle unit soared more than 11%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 0.65% to close at 28,070.51, while the Topix jumped nearly 1% to 1,954.08. South Korea’s Kospi dipped 0.7% to 3,220.62.
The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia was up 0.29% to close at 7,584.30, Meanwhile, Singapore’s Straits Times index dipped 0.82% in the afternoon.
Singapore’s a trade and industry ministry said Wednesday that the economy grew 14.7% in the second quarter compared to a year ago, better than official advance estimates of a 14.3% expansion. The country also expects its economy to grow between 6% and 7% in 2021, an upgrade from past projections of 4% to 6%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 0.37% while in Hong Kong, Petrochina jumped 3.1%, CNOOC rose 1.73% and Sinopec surged nearly 2%.
The Senate’s infrastructure plan, which includes $550 billion in new spending on transportation and broadband, is expected to help give the economy a boost as peak growth slows following the reopening from the pandemic.
Asian Markets Currencies and Oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, rose to 93.164, from levels above 92.9 yesterday.
The Japanese yen traded at 110.76, weaker than levels around 110.4 the day before while the Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7327, a touch lower than levels above $0.734 seen yesterday.
After spiking more than 2% on Tuesday, oil prices continued rising on Wednesday afternoon. Brent crude futures were up 0.54% to $71 per barrel. U.S. crude futures climbed 0.50% to trade at $68.62 per barrel.
Oil stocks in asia rose on the back of those gains. In Australia, Santos was up 1.43%, while Beach Energy jumped nearly 3%. Oil Search climbed 1.29%, and Origin Energy soared 3.76%.
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