APAC Market Wrap - 17 Jun

China A-shares: At close, the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.04%, the Shenzhen Component Index dropped 0.12%, and the ChiNext Index declined 0.36%. On the market performance, market hotspots rotated rapidly, with more stocks falling than rising—over 2,900 individual stocks declined across the market.

 

By sector, brain-computer interface concept stocks surged collectively: Aipeng Medical and others hit the daily limit. Oil and gas stocks were active again, with Zhunyou Energy achieving a three-day consecutive limit-up.

 

Nuclear pollution prevention concept stocks rose amid volatility, with CNNC Technology  hitting the daily limit. On the downside, innovative drug concept stocks surged then fell back, with Kexing Pharmaceutical dropping over 10%.  

 

Hong Kong Stocks: The Hang Seng Index fell 0.34%, and the Hang Seng Tech Index dropped 0.15%. On the market action, innovative drug concept stocks that had continued to rise earlier fell sharply: Luye Pharma dropped 11%, Simcere Pharmaceutical fell 10.5%, and multiple stocks such as Sansheng Pharmaceutical, InnoCare, Grand Pharmaceutical, and ZaiLab fell over 7%.  

 

As the market anticipated an easing of the Israel-Iran conflict, safe-haven sectors like gold, oil, and military stocks collectively corrected. On the other hand, overnight U.S. brain regeneration technology stocks soared 283.12%, boosting Hong Kong's brain-computer concept stocks: Nanjing Panda Electronics surged 38% (standing out), while Brainhole Technology and MicroPort Neurotech followed suit with gains.  

 

Japan Stocks: The Nikkei 225 Index rose 0.67%, hitting a near three-month high. Rising sectors such as real estate, banks, and textiles drove the index higher. Nintendo gained 4.14%, closing at ¥12,440.00 in late trading, while Nitori Holdings fell 2.45% to ¥13,955.00.  

 

Singapore Stocks: The Straits Times Index (STI) closed 0.57% higher, up 22.18 points at 3,930.64.Total trading volume for the STI reached 1.15 billion shares, with a turnover of S$993.75 million. Advancers numbered 275, while decliners stood at 210.

 

South Korean Stock Market: On the 17th, the Kospi index closed at 2,950.3, up 3.64 points (0.12%) from the previous day.Major constituents of the Kospi by market capitalization showed mixed trends. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix rose 1.57% and 0.4% respectively. Notably, SK hynix hit an intraday high of 260,000 won, setting a new all-time record for its share price.

 

India Stocks: At close, the Sensex fell 212 points to 81,583, while the Nifty failed to hold above the 24,900 mark. Market breadth remained negative, with the IT sector standing as the sole sectoral gainer.

 

Indonesia: The Jakarta Composite Index rose 0.50%. Indonesian stocks closed higher on Tuesday, led by gains in infrastructure, finance, and agriculture sectors.  

Key Events  

Bank of Japan's Policy Meeting Unleashes Major Moves: Maintains Interest Rates, to Slow Down Balance Sheet Reduction Pace Next Year! On Tuesday (June 17th), the Bank of Japan stated in its latest monetary policy statement that it would keep the policy rate at 0.5% (unchanged) and plan to slow down the pace of bond purchase reduction in the next fiscal year.  

 

In late May, Japanese government bond yields surged to record highs, driven by weak investor demand for long-term Japanese government bond auctions and high volatility in global bond markets. On May 21st, the yield on Japan's 30-year government bond hit a historical high of 3.2%.  

 

South Korea's SK Hynix's share price continued Monday's rally on Tuesday morning, hitting an all-time high since its listing over 20 years ago: This followed weekend reports that SK Hynix's parent company, SK Group, plans to build South Korea's largest artificial intelligence (AI) data center. Driven by the AI boom, SK Hynix's share price has soared nearly 50% year-to-date. Following Monday's gain, the stock surged nearly 3% in early trading on Tuesday, hitting an intraday record high.

 

LG Display to Invest KRW 1.2 Trillion in OLED... First Trillion-Won Investment Under Lee Jung-boo's Administration: LGD held a board meeting on the 17th and publicly announced a KRW 1.26 trillion investment in new organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology.This marks the first trillion-won investment plan officially rolled out by a domestic enterprise since the inauguration of the Lee Jae-myung government.