Asia Markets Mixed After Wall Street Records Modest Gains

Asian markets were mixed on Friday, July 23, 2021, after major indexes edged higher on Wall Street, preserving their gains for the week, Elaine Kurtenbach reported for the Associated Press (AP.)

Hong Kong and Shanghai fell while Sydney and Seoul advanced. Tokyo was closed for a holiday. Surges in coronavirus cases around the region are prompting governments to tighten pandemic restrictions that are expected to slow business activity and keep travel to a minimum.

The SET in Bangkok edged 0.1% lower. In Seoul, the Kospi was 0.2% higher, while Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.1%. Regional trading was muted, with markets in Japan closed for a holiday ahead of the opening ceremony for the Tokyo Olympics.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 1% to 27,438.68 and the Shanghai Composite index gave up 0.7% to 3,551.55.

The declines came as Bloomberg reported regulators were planning more penalties for ride-sharing giant Didi, whose shares in New York sank 11.3% on Thursday.

Didi’s shares have declined more than 25% since they began trading in New York last month, amid a crackdown by the Chinese government on technology companies.

“Asian equities traded sideways on Friday, mirroring choppy price action on Wall Street overnight,” Anderson Alves of ActivTrades said in a commentary. “However, pandemic concerns continue to weigh on the market.”

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% to 4,367.48. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1% to 34,823.35. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.4% to 14,684.60. All three indexes remain close to the all-time highs they set early last week. Wall Street’s smallest companies lost ground. The Russell 2000 index fell 1.5%, to 2,199.48.

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