Asian stock markets mostly rise – Investors react to ceasefire between US and Iran

The Australian S&P ASX 200, which had recently already been moderately firmer, rose a further 0.7 percent to 8,823 points. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index made another attempt at a recovery on Monday, gaining 1.6 percent to 23,027 points. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.2 percent to 69,468 points, while the broader Topix added 0.4 percent. The leading index had previously reached a record high around a week earlier and had since seen pronounced profit-taking – "nach den jüngsten, deutlichen Gewinnmitnahmen im Nachgang des Rekordhochs vor einer Woche".

In China, the CSI 300 Index, which tracks the most important stocks on the Chinese mainland exchanges, recovered, clawing its way up 1.2 percent to 4,927 units. The Shanghai Composite rose 1.2 percent to 4,071.57 points. A publication by China's National Health Security Administration (NHSA) on the inclusion of new medicines in the national reimbursement list and the associated start of substantial price negotiations for innovative drugs triggered a rally. As a result, pharma and biotech stocks in Hong Kong and mainland China rose sharply, with the corresponding sub-indices gaining around 7 percent each. Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals rose 20 percent, CStone Pharmaceuticals around 13 percent, and Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical 7.2 percent.

Pharma rally in China

The central bank had apparently supplied banks with money at a somewhat cheaper rate than experts had expected via its newly introduced instrument of overnight repo transactions, which also supported liquidity conditions on the mainland. Offsetting this were burdening factors: China has placed 20 Japanese companies – including firms from the defense sector – as well as research institutions on an export control list. In future, Chinese companies will need domestic approval before they are allowed to supply the affected Japanese customers.

South Korea, by contrast, was unable to join the positive trend. The Kospi lost 0.2 percent to 8,395 points. Although the government in Seoul announced large-scale investments in the expansion of AI capacities together with domestic chip manufacturers – "Die Nachricht der Regierung, dass ein Unternehmens-Konsortium unter Führung von Samsung und SK Group zwei Chipfabriken bauen wollen" – this "sorgte letztlich nicht für die nötige Stabilisierung". Samsung Electronics fell 4.8 percent, weighing on the Kospi, while SK Hynix slipped 1.7 percent. Shares of semiconductor manufacturer Kioxia Holdings also extended the recent correction with a significant loss.

Korea and chip stocks remain weak

The development at the other Asian trading venues was mixed. The Straits Times Index in Singapore stood at 5,203.07 points, up 0.2 percent. The IDX Composite in Indonesia, by contrast, fell 0.9 percent to 5,842.27 points, and the KLCI in Malaysia lost 0.4 percent to 1,661.49 points. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index was even up 2.0 percent in later trading.

Currencies, commodities and cryptocurrencies

On the foreign exchange market, the euro was quoted at 1.1405 US dollars at the time of reporting, a gain of 0.2 percent. Bitcoin/USD was quoted at 59,965.86 dollars, rising 0.7 percent, compared with 60,594.85 dollars previously. Brent/ICE crude oil edged up 0.4 percent at Asian exchanges to 72.31 dollars, while WTI/Nymex crude added 1.1 percent to 69.96 dollars – overall, however, quotations remained at the level seen before the start of the Iran war, after having fallen sharply the previous week. Gold slipped 0.7 percent to 4,058.41 dollars, silver lost 1.2 percent to 58.47 dollars, and platinum was quoted 0.4 percent lower at 1,608.46 dollars.