South Korean Stocks Tumble As Martial Law Chaos Jolts Market: Asia Market Wrap
Bank of Korea’s monetary board, which unexpectedly cut the key rate last week, will hold an extraordinary meeting.
Stocks in South Korea plunged on Wednesday after President Yoon Suk Yeol imposed martial law, which was later lifted but left the nation in chaos. The country's currency gained after weakening nearly 3%.
Equities in Japan rose while Australian stocks were trading lower during the session's opening. The Nikkei was 87 points, or 0.24%, higher at 39,313, while the S&P ASX 200 was up 39 points, or 0.46%, at 8,454 as of 5:40 a.m. Kospi was down 0.95% in early trade.
Yeol said he would lift the martial law decree declared hours earlier, as pressures from the parliament’s opposition mounted. In a televised address early Wednesday, Yoon said that he would accept the National Assembly’s demand and lift the martial law through a cabinet meeting.
The political rift deepened in the country when the President imposed martial law on Tuesday evening, to avoid the opposition from trying to paralyze his administration. South Korea's won gained nearly 1% on Tuesday after a plunge in the previous session.
Bank of Korea’s monetary board, which unexpectedly cut the key rate last week, will hold an extraordinary meeting at 9:00 a.m. local time, according to Bloomberg News.
Meanwhile, all eyes will be on US factory orders, durable goods and the S&P Global Composite PMI data that are due later today. Multiple Federal Reserve officials expect the rate-cutting cycle to continue over the next year, but stopped short of saying if it will happen later this month.
The Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy committee will meet from Wednesday to Friday to decide on the key policy rates after the country's economic growth fell to the slowest in nearly two years.
The latest US payrolls data showed job openings picked up while layoffs eased. The october job openings were recorded at 7.74 million versus the estimated 7.51 million.
Stocks on Wall Street felt pressure from South Korea's political chaos after the benchmark S&P 500 index briefly hit another life high, taking the tally to 55 this year. The S&P 500 index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.05% and 0.40%, respectively, on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.17%.
Treasury 10-year yields advanced four basis points to 4.23%. The dollar index—which tracks the greenback's performance against a basket of 10 leading global currencies—was trading 0.08% lower at 106.36.
Crude oil prices rose the most in over two weeks after US imposed more sanctions on Iranian crude. The Brent crude was trading 2.49% higher at $73.62 a barrel as of 6:00 a.m. IST, and the West Texas Intermediate was up 0.13% at $70.03.
