Weekly Market Summary

💡1. European and Asian markets tumbled on Thursday after poorer than expected. US inflation data stoked fears of further rate rises and lower growth in the world’s largest economy. In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Topix closed down by 1.2 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 2.1 per cent, led by volatile Chinese technology stocks. Core inflation, a measure that excludes food and energy prices and is closely watched, also exceeded forecasts at 0.6 per cent growth month on month. The US dollar index, which measures the currency’s strength compared to six others rose 0.3 per cent to reach its highest level since 2002, in a sign that investors are increasingly convinced that there will be further rate rises.

💡2. US stocks eked out a marginal advance after a volatile trading day on Tuesday, as investors attempted to navigate an increasingly complex outlook for monetary policy and the global economy. The technology-focused Nasdaq Composite, which fell more than 4 per cent the previous session, gained 1 per cent. Europe’s regional Stoxx 600 added 0.7 per cent - tracing back some of the previous day’s 2.9 per cent decline. While, emerging market currencies have fallen by their most since the early stages of the pandemic. An MSCI gauge of emerging market currencies has tumbled by more than 4 per cent since early April as the Federal Reserve embarks on an aggressive tightening of monetary policy.

💡3. The Chinese renminbi fell to its weakest level against the dollar in more than 18 months on Monday after data showed the country’s exports grew at the slowest pace in two years last month, spurring a further bout of selling across emerging market currencies. While Sunac failed to pay US$29.5 million in interest due on a US-dollar bond and expects to miss payments on three additional notes, it said in a filing. The developer’s April sales dropped 75 per cent compared with a year ago and 40 per cent compared with March.

💡4. Hong Kong stocks fell to their lowest in two months, as the city’s monetary authority intervened to defend the local currency for the first time since 2019. The Hang Seng Index declined 2.2 per cent to 19,380.34 at the close of Thursday trading, extending losses made earlier in the day, after accumulating gains of 1 per cent on Wednesday. The Tech Index retreated 3.8 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.1 per cent. Alibaba Group Holding, slumped 6.6 per cent to HK$80. JD.com lost 7.8 per cent to HK$192.The Hong Kong Monetary Authority bought about HK$1.59 billion (US$202 million) on Thursday to bolster the exchange rate after it weakened to HK$7.8500 per US dollar, the weak end of its HK$7.7500 to HK$7.8500 trading range.

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One of the must-ask interview questions for banking and finance is: “Have you read any news recently?”, with the follow-up questions: “How would you link this news to the market and what investment suggestions would you give to your clients based on this news?”.

Showing your market sense and ability to provide feasible investment ideas would help to differentiate you from other candidates. Therefore, apart from the weekly news update / investment insights, we have also generated this Weekly Market Summary for you to have a quick understanding of the market development and tips to answer some hot discussion topics. Take a look of the summary and WhatsApp us in the group if you have questions."