Market Insights: Apr 19th, 2024

Stock Market Trends:

1. Main Market Trend: On Friday, April 19, the stock market opened lower and then showed a diverging trend. Before noon, the overall market declined, with the Shanghai Composite Index falling by 0.4%, the Shenzhen Component Index by 1.31%, and the ChiNext Index by 2.2%.
2. Sector Performance:

• Technology and Consumer Sectors: Affected by sudden external events, technology and consumer sectors experienced a collective downturn.
• Energy and Precious Metals Sectors: The energy and precious metals sectors strengthened, following the futures market trend, with stocks like Zijin Mining and CNOOC reaching new highs.
• Chemical Sector: The chemical sector saw noticeable gains due to capital exploration and follow-up increases.
• Other Sectors: Traditional Chinese medicine and tire sectors followed independent performance logic.

3. Individual Stock Situation: Overall, there were more decliners than gainers, with over 3,900 stocks falling across the market. The half-day turnover for the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges was 572.5 billion, a decrease of 46.8 billion from the previous trading day. Regarding northbound capital, there was a net outflow of 2.24 billion in the Shanghai Stock Connect and 2.95 billion in the Shenzhen Stock Connect in the morning session.

Other Markets:

1. Hong Kong Stock Market Performance: The overall decline in the Hong Kong stock market slightly narrowed, with the Hang Seng Index falling by 1.23% and the Hang Seng Technology Index by 2.6%.
2. Asia-Pacific Stock Markets: Asia-Pacific stock markets suffered heavy losses, with the MSCI Asia Pacific Index falling by 2% to 166.98 points and the Nikkei 225 index’s loss widening to 3%.
3. Geo-Political Impact: Geo-political tensions led to heavy losses in Asia-Pacific stock markets, and safe-haven asset prices fell after the security of Iran's nuclear facilities was confirmed.

Financial Markets:

1. Crude Oil Prices: Crude oil prices fell for four consecutive days, and although there was a brief increase, the gain was limited. The rebound was hindered by comments from high-ranking Fed officials.
2. Gold Prices: Gold prices experienced significant fluctuations due to the demand for safe-haven assets, with prices pulling back from their highs.
3. Bitcoin Prices: Bitcoin prices saw a substantial intra-day rebound, surpassing $64,000.

Company Performance:

1. TSMC Earnings Report: TSMC's first-quarter earnings report showed a net profit of 225.5 billion New Taiwan Dollars, up 8.9% year-over-year, with revenue reaching 5926.4 billion New Taiwan Dollars, up 17% year-over-year, marking the fastest growth in over a year.
2. Performance Compared to Expectations: TSMC's first-quarter performance met expectations, with rapid revenue growth and a high gross margin.

Japanese Economy:

1. Japanese CPI Data: Japan's March CPI rose by 2.7% year-over-year, slightly below forecast. Economists believe that, with wage increases announced across various sectors in Japan, inflation risks remain.
2. Bank of Japan Policy: The Governor of the Bank of Japan explicitly stated that the bank might consider raising interest rates, which is related to the recent depreciation of the yen.