Asian shares Tuesday improved, but investors continue to grow wary over the effects of the pandemic to global corporate earnings and the Chinese economy. Market players continue to wait for Chinese data in March as the country revealed that its exports have significantly declined in recent weeks.
Asian shares performed better at the start of the morning trading this Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 improved by 2.2 percent at 19,471.77 and South Korea's Kospi by 1.4 percent at 1,850.82. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 also increased by 0.6 percent at 5,421.50 including Hong Kong's Hang Seng index that humped 0.4 percent at 24,399.68. Lastly, the Shanghai Composite also gained by 0.5 percent at 2,797.96.
Despite the improvements, investors are still wary pending the release of Chinese trade data for March. However, the customs agency in Beijing already announced that the country's exports decreased by 3.5 percent yielding only 1.3 trillion yuan. China has yet to announce its report figures against the US dollar where China's trade is conducted. The report is expected to highlight an annual comparison of its standard measurement of growth.
In February alone, Chinese exports decreased by 17.2 percent in February in US dollar terms caused by government restrictions to contain the pandemic. These restrictions disrupted factory operations, the closure of shopping malls, and the halt of business activity in the country. The Chinese customs agency also warned that it would face further pressure caused by the weakened global economy.
On the other hand, Wall Street showed that the S&P 500 decreased by one percent after the market cut early losses by more than a half this Tuesday. The benchmark index performed better last week where it improved by 12 percent, the best yield of the stock since 1974.
The pandemic adversely affected industrial, healthcare, and financial stocks the hardest. Amazon and other retailers were the ones who suffered the most. However, traders continue to eye market improvements that may indicate a decline of the pandemic in other jurisdictions including the US's consideration of reopening its economy.
Investors were said to showcase cautious optimism as some of the hard-hit areas received ample support from the Federal Reserve. The support resulted in improvements in stock values in last week's big rally. This week, however, stocks were more volatile as companies released their results for the first quarter. Analysts continue to focus on management teams' perspectives on how the market would behave for the rest of 2020.
