Newscasts - Asia Markets Briefing: Bank of Korea makes surprise rate cut

Pony AI

28/11/2024 09:07

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Source: 'Reuters - Business videos'

Description: The Bank of Korea made its first back-to-back rate cut since 2009
on Thursday - and signaled more may be to come. Stocks markets across Asia
were muted, hit by thin trading ahead of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday and
concern at the new Trump tariffs announced earlier this week.
Short Link: https://refini.tv/3Vcdhbe

Video Transcript:

The Bank of Korea makes an unexpected rate cut. Welcome to Asia Markets
Briefing. I'm Thomas Warner. The Bank of Korea made its first back-to-back
rate cut since 2009 on Thursday and signals more maybe to come. Only four of
the 38 economists polled by Reuters predicted Thursday's reduction, which was
down to 3%. The country's central bankers have been spooked by slowing growth,
increasing competition within Asia and fear of the next Trump presidency.
Governor Rhee Chang Yong says that three of the six other board members are
open to more cuts, as the clouds gather above South Korea's export reliant
economy. The move brought Korean treasury yields to a 32-month low, but
through a muted reaction from the KOSPI. US trade concerns weighed on China
stocks, which in turn put pressure on the wider regional index. Though trading
was thin, with US markets closed for Thanksgiving. And a selloff in India's IT
sector gave the NIFTY 50 a knock. Investors are worried that robust consumer
spending in the US will mean higher for longer interest rates and harm demand
for Indian computers. But one analyst that we spoke to said that those fears
may be misplaced.

Well, the personal consumption expenditure, or PCE report today, I think
allowed investors to breathe a sigh of relief. Because even though the
expected numbers were a little higher than some previous months, they were,
they did come in as expected. So as a result, I think that investors now
believe that we are on a firm footing to the Fed continuing its easing
process, but probably shifting to a quarterly reduction in rates in 2025,
rather than doing so at every meeting.

But it's the indictment of Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani that's still top
of the agenda in New Delhi. Both houses of Indian Parliament were suspended on
Thursday within minutes of opening, as opposition lawmakers insisted on a
debate about the allegations. Adani and two others are accused of being part
of a $265 million scheme to bribe Indian officials to dish out solar power
energy supply contracts. Some of India's opposition parties accused Prime
Minister Narendra Modi of being too close to Adani. Shares of China's Pony AI
opened around 15% higher than their offer price in their NASDAQ debut on
Wednesday. The valuation of $5.25 billion for the Robotaxi firm suggests that
US investors do still have a strong appetite for Chinese stocks. Nissan Motor
says that its global production fell for a fifth straight month in October,
led by downshifts at most of its manufacturing hubs. The Japanese giant this
month announced plans to axe 9,000 jobs and cut 20% of its manufacturing
capacity, but those plans have now been complicated by this week's new Trump
tariffs. And finally looking ahead, we've still got Tokyo CPI and large-scale
retail sales to come from Japan on Thursday. And on Friday, It's all eyes on
India's second quarter GDP print. It's forecast to come in lower than Q1 at
6.5%. And that's it for your Asia Markets Briefing