Market Drivers – Asian Session 29-10-2021

Markets witnessed a quiet Asian session today. The Nikkei index rose 0.25 percent to close at 28,892.69 points, after falling about 1.2 percent earlier in the session. The index increased during the week by 0.3 percent. The broader Topix index also increased and closed up 0.08 percent at 2001.18 points.

The US House of Representatives decided to postpone a vote on a trillion-dollar infrastructure bill after progressive Democrats insisted they would not vote on it unless they could also vote on social spending and a $1.75 trillion climate change package.

The US Senate has voted unanimously and approved a new bill preventing Huawei from obtaining new licenses for equipment from regulators, news reports said Friday, as it poses a threat to US national security.

The latest economic data in Japan showed that Japanese factory production contracted for the third consecutive month in September. Factory production declined by 5.4% in September compared to the previous month, affected by a decline in the production of cars and general-purpose machinery. This means that production contracted for the third month in a row, after declining by 3.6% in August and 1.5% in July.

Brent crude futures rose 27 cents, or 0.3 percent, to record $84.59 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 12 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $82.93 a barrel.

The German economy expanded 1.8% inter-quarter in the third quarter of 2021 when compared to the expectations of 2.2% and 1.6% booked in Q2, the preliminary report published by Destatis showed on Friday. the annualized GDP rate rose by 2.5% in Q3 compared to 9.4% prevoius and matched the market expectations of a 2.5% figure.