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Informist, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026                                      Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

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Equity Alert: Asian indices lower; KOSPI hits fresh high before falling

 

MUMBAI--0825 IST--Equity indices in Asia were largely lower. South Korea's KOSPI index rose to a fresh high, before falling. Investors will analyse data from South Korea and Japan, along with comments by US President Donald Trump over the next US Federal Reserve chair. 

 

Core inflation in Japan slowed to a 15-month low in January due to gasoline subsidies and mitigating pressure on food prices, Reuters reported. However, removing the effect of fresh food and fuel prices, the country's inflation stayed above the Bank of Japan's target of 2%. This was an indication that the economy has continued to make progress. The data highlights the central bank's forecast that core inflation will briefly slide below its 2% target as the hike in food prices fizzles out, before speeding up again as a steady rise in wages strengthens purchasing power, Reuters said. The country's core price index rose 2% on year in January, below expectations of a 2.2% rise. Inflation slowed from 2.3% in December, with the slowdown largely attributed to the high base previous year due to the sharp rise in food prices along with the effect of the gasoline subsidies currently. 

 

In South Korea, data from the Ministry of Data and Statistics showed annual production in 2025 rose only 0.5% due to sluggish domestic demand. This was the slowest growth rate in five years, The Chosun Daily reported. This was despite stimulating measures such as the distribution of consumption coupons worth 13 trillion Korean won or $9.03 billion, the report said. Manufacturing production rose 1.7% on year, led by a growth of 13.2% in semiconductor manufacturing and 9.5% growth in electronic communication.     

       

Investors in the region are set to monitor events regarding the successor to US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. US President Donald Trump said he would pick a name this Friday to replace Powell, according to CNBC. The process began in September with 11 candidates, which have now boiled down to four. Former Federal Governor Kevin Warsh, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, Fed Governor Cristopher Waller, and BlackRock chief investment officer for fixed income Rick Rieder are the final four candidates.

 

Following are the levels of key Asian indices at 0824 IST:

 

INDEX	LEVEL	CHANGE IN %
CSI 300 Index	4675.89	(-)1.64
Hang Seng Index	27515.58	(-)1.62
KOSPI	5209.02	(-)0.23
Nikkei 225 Day	52923.12	(-)0.85
TOPIX FIRST SECTION	3536.26	(-)0.25
FTSE Singapore Straits Times	4915.38	(-)0.30
S&P/ASX 200 Index	8876.30	(-)0.57
IDX Composite	8281.26	0.60

 

(Akshat Saksena)

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Equity Alert: Most US indices end lower Thursday; S&P 500 extends losses

 

MUMBAI--0731 IST--Major US equity indices, barring the Dow Jones Industrial Average, ended lower on Thursday. The S&P 500 index posted losses for the second straight session. This comes amid the market's concerns about the fruition of the hefty spending of technology companies on artificial intelligence. Apple announced its earnings after market hours.

 

While indices came off lows during the session, they were still weighed down by the tech sector, Reuters reported. Shares of Microsoft fell nearly 10?ter the company's cloud revenue failed to impress investors and fuelled concerns that the company's hefty spending for its OpenAI alliance were not reaping returns quick enough. Shares of US-listed SAP fell over 15?ter the company's cautious outlook raised concerns over its cloud business as well. Shares of ServiceNow also fell nearly 10?ter the company's quarterly earnings. 

 

"Microsoft disappointed and there are some genuine concerns that AI investments will eat the software companies' lunches," John Praveen, managing director and co-CIO, Paleo Leon in Princeton, New Jersey, was quoted as saying by Reuters. Stocks such as ServiceNow and Sales Force were affected as investors were concerned about whether AI could disrupt their business a little bit, Jay Hatfield, chief executive officer ‍and chief information officer of Infrastructure Capital Advisors in New York, was reported as saying. Shares of Sales Force fell over 6%.

 

Apple's revenue of $143.76 billion beat the estimate of $138.48 billion by LSEG, CNBC reported. "(Tim) Cook said Apple now has an active base of 2.5 billion iPhones, Macs and other Apple devices, up from 2.35 billion announced in January last year. That number is closely watched because it points to the addressable market for Apple services, as well as for software on the company's platforms," CNBC said. Shares of Apple ended nearly 1% higher.  

 

Investors are trying to reduce their exposure to stocks in an attempt to play it safe given the broader uncertainties over the next Federal Reserve chair, the possibility of a US government shutdown, and the government's stance towards Iran and Greenland, Praveen said. However, US President Donald Trump Thursday endorsed a spending deal negotiated by the country's senate Republicans and Democrats that could prevent a government shutdown, Reuters reported. However, matters are still unclear about whether the House of Representatives will agree to the deal and when they could take up the measure, as they are still on a scheduled break, which makes it difficult to get them to Washington before Monday. This could possibly lead to swaths of the federal government to shut down briefly over the weekend, Reuters said. 

 

Shares of Tesla fell over 3% after the company announced it plans to more than double its capital expenditure plans to a record level, Reuters reported. Shares of IBM rose 5?ter its fourth quarter earnings beat estimates. Caterpillar and MasterCard were also higher after their earnings, with the latter claiming it would lay off 4% of its global workforce to refocus its investments in other areas. Shares of Caterpillar were up over 3% and those of MasterCard were up over 4%. Shares of Lockheed Martin rose over 4% as its earnings forecast for 2026 was higher than expectations. 

 

Following are the closing levels of US indices Thursday:  

 

Index	Level	Change in %
S&P 500	6969.01	(-)0.13
NASDAQ Composite	23685.12	(-)0.72
Dow Jones Industrial Average	49071.56	0.11

 

(Akshat Saksena)

 

US$1 = INR 91.96

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

 

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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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