Hong Kong (AP) Although the Seoul Kospi sank less than 2%, Asian markets pulled back Wednesday after South Korea’s overnight political drama increased regional unpredictability.
Oil prices barely changed, but U.S. futures increased.
Troops surrounded the parliament after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol abruptly declared martial law on Tuesday night local time. He claimed that pro-North Korean elements were planning to topple one of the most dynamic democracies in the world. About six hours later, martial law was lifted.
The biggest opposition party in South Korea demanded on Wednesday that President Yoonto step down immediately or be impeached.
With losses of up to 2%, Yoon’s move originally sent the won plunging to a two-year low vs the US dollar. This was the biggest one-day decline since the market’s tumultuous response to Donald Trump’s 2016 election triumph. On Wednesday, the win somewhat made up for those defeats. After peaking at 1,443.40 on Tuesday, the dollar was now trading at 1,414.43 won.
The Kospi in South Korea fell 1.9% to 2,451.64. The largest firm in the nation, Samsung Electronics, saw a 1.1% decline in share price. According to the Yonhap news agency, the nation’s financial regulator stated that they were ready to invest 10 trillion won ($7.07 billion) at any time in a fund that would stabilize the stock market.
China declared on Tuesday that it would stop exporting important high-tech materials with possible military uses, including gallium, germanium, and antimony, to the United States. Following the U.S. expansion of its list of Chinese enterprises subject to export controls on computer chip manufacturing equipment, software, and high-bandwidth memory chips, Beijing took the action.
At 19,752.59, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained less than 0.1%, while the Shanghai Composite fell 0.1% to 3,375.20.
Nikkei 225, the benchmark for Japan, fell 0.4% to 39,077.04. The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia fell 0.5% to 8,454.10.
U.S. equities tipped to new highs on Tuesday, adding a little more to an already outstanding year.
For the 55th time this year, the S&P 500 reached an all-time high, rising less than 0.1% to 6,049.88. The Nasdaq composite hit its own record set a day earlier, rising 0.4% to 19,480.91, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% to 44,705.53.
After a study revealed that U.S. firms were posting a few more job opportunities at the end of October than they had a month earlier, Treasury rates remained largely unchanged. Sustained prosperity there would increase confidence that the economy could avoid a recession, which many investors had previously believed was unavoidable.
The 10-year Treasury yield increased from 4.20% late Monday to 4.23%.
Yields have seesawed since Election Day on worries that Trump s preferences forlower tax ratesandbigger tariffscould spurhigher inflation.But traders are still confident theFederal Reservewillcut its main interest rate againat its next meeting in two weeks. They re betting on a nearly three-in-four chance of that, according to data from CME Group.
Lower rates can give the economy a lift but also tend to fuel inflation.
A report this week that could guide the Fed s next move will be Friday sjobs report, which will show how many workers U.S. employers hired and fired during November. It could be difficult to parse given how much storms and strikes distorted figures in October.
Based on trading in the options market, Friday s jobs report appears to be the biggest potential market mover until the Fed announces its next decision on interest rates Dec. 18, according to strategists at Barclays Capital.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude lost 5 cents to $69.99 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added 7 cents to $73.69 a barrel.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 149.75 Japanese yen from 149.59 yen. The euro cost $1.0495, down from $1.0510.
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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.
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