The Asian stock market posted mostly up to 1%. The only index that showed a decline was the Japanese Nikkei 225, which fell by 0.98%. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index, on the other hand, increased by the same amount - by 0.99%. The rest of the indexes fell somewhere between these two, with China's Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen Composite adding 0.31% and 0.19%, respectively. The Australian S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.1% and the Korean KOSPI gained 0.39%.
The growth of Asian indices, as usual, contributes to the increase in US indicators. In turn, US stock indicators are growing due to the receipt of preliminary information about the expected reduction in the rate of inflation. Thus, according to analysts' expectations, in the previous month, price growth slowed down to 8.7% from the June level of 9.1%.
At the same time, the aggravation of the geopolitical situation associated with the situation around the visit of the representative of the US Parliament to Taiwan may at any moment affect the behavior of bidders. According to the latest information, China intends to continue military exercises near Taiwan, as well as to conduct them on a regular basis.
Among the representatives of the Japanese Nikkei 225, the decrease in the share price was demonstrated by SoftBank Group Corp. (-7.5%) due to the company's key fund receiving a net loss totaling $21.68 billion due to a decrease in quotes of securities of technology sector enterprises.
As a result of the decrease in net profit of Tokyo Electron, Ltd. by 12% due to an increase in production costs, the company's stock quotes fell by 9%.
Among Chinese companies, Country Garden Services Holdings, Co., Ltd. showed the largest increase in the value of securities. (+6%), China Unicom (Hong Kong), Ltd (+3.5%), and Xinyi Solar Holdings, Ltd. (+2.5%).
Shares of Cathay Pacific Airways edged down slightly by 0.4%, although they posted record gains during trading on the back of news that the Hong Kong government intends to phase out restrictive measures.
South Korean CheilJedang, Corp. showed a 9% increase in share price in connection with the provision of strong corporate reporting for the past quarter. The company managed to get a net profit that exceeded market expectations.
At the same time, the value of the securities of Samsung Electronics, Co. fell by 1.2%, while Kia, Corp. and LG Electronics, Inc., on the contrary, increased by 0.12% and 0.3%, respectively.
Australia recorded an increase in business confidence in July by 5 points compared to the June level. Its final increase for the previous month was 7 points. At the same time, there is a decrease in the consumer confidence indicator in August to 81.2 points from the July level of 83.8 points.
Stock quotes of Megasport, Ltd. increased by 9% due to the fact that the company managed to reach a profitable level in the fourth quarter of the financial year.
Quotes of National Australia Bank, Ltd. decreased by 3%, although the company was able to increase the value of net profit in the third quarter of the fiscal year to 1.85 billion Australian dollars (equivalent to 1.29 billion US dollars) from last year's mark of 1.65 billion.