Hang Seng reached the lowest levels more than ten years
Wall Street indices tumbled last Friday to end the week, the month and the quarter sharply down. The S&P 500 saw a new 2022 lows while the Dow Jones closed below 29,000 for the first time since November 2020 and the Nasdaq Composite was 1.51% lower. For the month, the Dow gave up 8.8%, while the S&P 500 fell 9.3% and the Nasdaq lost 10.5%. Adding the selling pressure ahead of the weekend, fresh data showed that the PCE price index rose 0.6% in August after being flat in the previous month.
Asian stock markets extended their losing streak on Monday to start October on negative footing. The regional benchmarks were mostly lower, reflecting lingering concerns about a possible recession amid aggressive interest rate hikes by central banks. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was nearly 1% down, after reaching the lowest levels more than ten years. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.7%.
Similarly, European equities slumped to start the month and the quarter. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 1% in early deals. Bucking the trend, oil and gas sector gained marginally amid an early jump in oil prices in response to reports that OPEC+ is considering an oil output cut of more than a million barrels per day. Meanwhile, the UK government said it will reverse plans to scrap the top rate of income tax that was widely criticized last week.
In currency markets, the dollar bounced marginally after two days of solid losses. The USD index regained the 112.00 figure, but struggles to attract more robust demand despite the dominating risk-off tone across the financial markets. As such, EURUSD has settled around the 0.9800 mark, holding relatively steady after the recent recovery from fresh long-term lows seen last week. Still, the euro is unlikely to regain parity any time soon.
