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Informist, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025                                      Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

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Equity Alert: Asian indices mixed; South Korea's exports top expectations

 

MUMBAI--0815 IST--Asian indices were mixed early Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 was down for the fourth consecutive session. Markets in China and Hong Kong were closed for National Day.

 

Japan's index for big business optimism increased to +14 in Jul-Sept, up from +13 in June and marking the highest level since December 2024, according to a CNBC report. The market forecast for the reading was +15. A positive figure for the Tankan survey indicates that optimists outnumber pessimists. "Firms from a wide range of sectors pointed to concern over the impact of US trade policy...some firms also complained of rising labour costs, slowdown in demand from inbound tourism and the risk of higher prices hurting domestic consumption," a Bank of Japan official was quoted as saying by Reuters. The Nikkei 225 fell more than 1% and the broader Topix index was down 1.7%.

 

South Korea's Kospi advanced almost 1%. The country's exports grew 12.7% on year in September, much higher than a Reuters estimate of a 7.2% increase. The country's chip exports rose 22% on year to a record monthly value amid increasing demands from artificial intelligence companies.

 

Taiwan's Taiex was up 1.4%. Chip-maker heavyweights like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and Hon Hai Precision Industry were up 3.2% and 1.3%, respectively. Several media reports said Taiwan has rejected the US proposal to shift half of its semiconductor production to the US. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down for the second straight session after the country's central bank kept its benchmark lending rates steady.

 

Following were the levels of key Asian indices at 0800 IST:

 

Index	Level	Change in %
Nikkei 225 Day	44437.78	(-)1.10
TOPIX FIRST SECTION	3084.36	(-)1.70
KOSPI	3453.97	0.86
FTSE Singapore Strait Times	4325.63	0.59
S&P/ASX 200 Index	8818.30	(-)0.34

 

(Eshitva Prakash)

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Equity Alert: US mkt ends higher Tue despite looming US government shutdown

 

MUMBAI--0748 IST--Indices in the US closed higher Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing at a record high as traders shrugged off concerns about the likely US government shutdown. The country inched towards a government shutdown after a vote to extend funding past the deadline failed. US President Donald Trump has threatned to fire several federal officers in case of a shutdown.

 

Traders were anxious about a prolonged closure which could hamper economic activity in the US and lead to a delay in key data releases. The US Labour Department earlier said that in case of a shutdown, it would not release the September non-farm payrolls data on Friday, according to media reports. 

 

"When it comes to Washington, the market widely expects a shutdown to happen, so investors are largely sitting tight for now, but if this extends beyond two weeks, people will start to become more concerned," Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge was quoted by CNBC, as saying.

 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.2% to reach a fresh closing high. Job openings in the US rose more than expected, by 19,000, to 7.227 million as of Aug. 31, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its report. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 7.185 million unoccupied jobs. 

 

Among specific stocks, shares of Pfizer gained nearly 7?ter President Trump said the company will cut the price of all prescription drugs in the Medicaid program for low-income Americans and sell new prescription drugs at a "most favored nation" price in exchange for tariff relief, a report by Reuters said. Shares of CoreWeave rose after the company announced a $14.2 billion artificial intelligence cloud infrastructure deal with Meta Platforms, a Reuters report said. Chipmaker Wolfspeed's shares jumped 29?ter the company exited bankruptcy proceedings, a report by Mint said. Shares of Lamb Weston rose over 4?ter the frozen-potato products maker beat analysts' estimates for first-quarter revenue and earnings. Firefly Aerospace shares were down nearly 21?ter an error in the pre-flight testing destroyed one of its rockets.

 

A group representing major US airlines Monday said that a government shutdown could dent aviation performance in the country and result in flight delays as air traffic controllers would have to work without pay, according to US media reports. Shares of Southwest Airlines fell 2.6% and those of United Airlines closed 2.2% lower.

 

Following are the closing levels of US indices Tuesday:

 

Index	Level	Change in %
S&P 500	6688.46	0.41
NASDAQ Composite	22660.01	0.3
Dow Jones Industrial Average	46397.89	0.18

 

(Eshitva Prakash)

 

End

 

US$1 = 88.79 INR 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Ashish Shirke

 

All prices from National Stock Exchange, unless otherwise specified.

All percentage changes for share prices are rounded off to the nearest whole number; percentage changes for index values are rounded off to one decimal place.

All times are Indian Standard Time.

 

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