The Asian stock market on September 15 continued to fluctuate strongly as the upward momentum of oil prices reinforced the forecast that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) would raise interest rates this week, overwhelming the slight recovery of the technology stock group.
Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have not shown signs of cooling down, especially after the Houthi forces controlled the coastal strip of Yemen and the strategic Bab al Mandab strait.
At the same time, Saudi Arabia closed the East-West oil pipeline after drone strikes. Both standard oils, WTI and Brent, continued to increase by more than 1%, standing firm above the 100 USD per barrel mark with prices of 102.69 USD and 106.92 USD respectively.
Energy costs continue to climb to peak levels as US diesel prices exceed 6 USD per gallon, dragging inflation forward, pushing US 10-year government bond yields above the 5% threshold for the first time since October 2023. Investors currently predict more than 90% of the Fed's ability to raise interest rates in the upcoming September 16 session.
After the sell-off on Wall Street, red covered most major exchanges in Asia including Hong Kong (China), Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Wellington and Taipei (Taiwan, China).
In the opposite direction, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo and Kospi in Seoul slightly increased thanks to the semiconductor stock group recovering technically after the shock of the first session of the week. Stocks of Samsung, SK hynix, Kioxia and SoftBank rebounded but could not completely erase the previous deep decline.
Caution still dominates the market after technology industry leaders such as Dario Amodei of Anthropic, Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk simultaneously supported slowing down the pace of upgrading artificial intelligence models.
