Asian stocks retreated on Tuesday as the Delta coronavirus variant spread in key markets in the region, prompting Chinese authorities to heighten their alerts.
Hang Seng Index (HSI50) fell to 25750 on SimpleFX, but since then has recovered and the index is trading at -0.25% at the moment.
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Asian markets were hampered by the global slowdown. In China, the Delta variant of the virus has spread from the coast to inland cities and prompted authorities to implement strict countermeasures.
Australia’s benchmark index, the S&P/ASX200 closed 0.25% down today after reaching a new high on Monday. Square Inc made an offer to buy buy-now-pay-later company Afterpay Ltd for $29 billion yesterday while the market was opening.
The Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to leave rates unchanged at 0.10% when it meets later in the day, but reverse the July bond tapering decision due to the lockdowns in Sydney and Brisbane caused by the expanding Delta variant.
So far Australian Dollar is doing very well and AUDUSD is up 0.56% in the last 24 hours.
Major European exchanges opened steady on Tuesday. DAX30 is -0.01%, FTSE100 +0.30%, and CAC40 +0.46%.
French multinational investment bank Societe General is up 1.92% as it has beaten the forecasts for their second-quarter retail banking profits.
The lender reported a net income of 1.44 billion euros ($1.71 billion) for the second quarter, exceeding analyst expectations by over 700 million euros (USD). The bank’s retail arm reported a 438 million euro net income, nearly doubling its pre-report 60 million euros in earnings.
Cryptocurrencies seemed to continue the bullish sentiment into August. Bitcoin underperformed Ether on Monday, but it hanged on Tuesday, as ETH is falling sharply. ETHUSD lost 4.7% while BTCUSD is down about other major cryptocurrencies and is down about 1.54% over the past 24 hours compared t.
Despite the PBoC’s recent crackdown on crypto trading in China, buyers of digital currency remain active.
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