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The Asian stock markets climbed Thursday, especially the Chinese places and in particular Hong Kong, ignoring the international worries and the Sino-American tensions engendered by the adoption by Beijing of a security law for the ex-British colony.
On Wall Street, the stock markets are heading towards an opening to the green. Around 8 a.m., the futures contracts on the S&P 500 increase from 24 points, or 0.78%, to 3,127 points. Those of Dow Jones gain 250 points, or 0.98%, to 25,825 points, while those of Nasdaq rose 67 points, or 0.65%, to 10,335 points.
In Europe, at mid-session, the markets are also in positive territory. In London, the FTSE 100 gained 52 points, or 0.86%, to 6,210 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 rose 77 points, or 1.57%, to 5,004 points. In Frankfurt, the DAX jumped 221 points, or 1.81%, to 12,481 points.
Back in Asia, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the Hang Seng, which was closed the day before, jumped 2.85% to 25,124.19 points, boosted by its powerful real estate sector, betting that the new law will restore stability in the financial metropolis, marked last year by pro-democracy demonstrations having sometimes degenerated.
In addition, according to the Bloomberg agency, massive capital flows from mainland China watered the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday.
The threats of further reprisals by Washington against Beijing after the passing of this controversial law did not shake the markets of mainland China either: Shanghai gained 2.13% to 3,090.57 points and Shenzhen 1.25% to 2,016.05 points.
Investors in China were much more sensitive to the new highs reached the previous day by Nasdaq, the highly technological index of the New York Stock Exchange.
They also appreciated the sharp upturn in manufacturing activity in the United States, a new sign of the American economic recovery, despite the pandemic that continues to rage in the South and West of the country.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange has been significantly more cautious: the star index Nikkei rose only 0.11% to 22,145.96 points, and the widened index 0.27% to 1,542.76 points.
More than 100 new daily cases of coronavirus were identified in Tokyo, a new record since the beginning of May and almost doubling compared to the daily reports of recent days.
On the oil side
The oil market remained well oriented on Thursday in Asia, after having already progressed the previous day thanks to the massive and larger than expected reflux of crude stocks in the United States. At 4:50 a.m. a barrel of US WTI crude oil advanced 0.65% to 40.08 dollars, and a barrel of Brent North Sea crude oil rose 0.64% to 42.30 dollars.
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