European stock markets were slightly higher year-to-date on Wednesday 16/08/2023 as investors evaluated UK inflation data. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 0.3% in the first minutes of trading, then moved around midday in Europe for a year-to-date gain of 0.2 percent. However, the Asia-Pacific stock markets saw a sell-off this Wednesday, August 16, 2023, which reflected the movements on Wall Street after the decline of American banks. Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index fell 1.46% to end at 31,766, the first time in more than a month that it fell below 32,000.
European stock market sectors were spread across both positive and negative territory during the European morning of 16/08/2023, with retail stocks leading a +0.7% YTD increase and telecoms stocks posting a -0.3% YTD decline of their previous prices. On the said day, the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index (HSI) fell 1.31% points in its last hour of this trading day on 16/08/2023, while mainland China markets were also lower, the CSI 300 Index fell 0.73% points to end at points balance in the amount of 3,818.33 points. For the first time since April of this year, 2023, China recorded a fall in the real estate price index to the territory of decline and year-on-year it fell by -0.1% points according to this index. South Korea’s Kospi stock index moved down -1.76% points to close at 2,525.64 points after the public holiday, while the Kosdaq index lost more by -2.59% points to end at 878.29 points , which is the lowest level since July 11 of this year, 2023.
In Europe, following the results of the Asian stock markets, the main European currencies strengthened against the US dollar (USD) as part of the forex operations of the foreign exchange market, especially the British pound (GBP) and the single European currency, the euro (EUR). Currently, during the beginning of the European afternoon on August 16, 2023, at approximately 12:32 CET, the currency pair referred to as the so-called global currency pair of the single European currency euro (EUR) and the US dollar (USD), as the world’s main reserve currency was trading at a mutual exchange rate of 1.092 USD to the EUR with a +0.15% daily growth of the EUR against the USD. The British pound (GBP), the European currency of the island country of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, also saw an increase in exchange value against the USD on the indicated date and time, and the currency pair traded in the forex operations of the foreign exchange market at a mutual exchange rate of USD 1.274 to GBP with the GBP up +0.31% against the USD on the day to date.
These mutual exchange rates with a positive increase for European currencies were also achieved in a situation where the United Kingdom (UK-Union Kingdom) house price index published today 16/08/2023 showed the lowest growth in property prices since 2020, pointing out that the highest price houses in the capital of this European island country, London, are facing a slump. The positive data of today’s data reporting from the UK were the published data on this year’s July inflation of 2023, which showed a slowdown to the year-on-year inflation rate of 6.8 percent. According to analysts, it was this data on the slowdown in the rate of inflation that caused the exchange value of the British pound (GBP) to strengthen. Although the Eurozone recently reported a lower volume of inflation for the same period, at 5.3% year-on-year, the single European currency, the euro (EUR), has strengthened against the USD so far on the trading day of 16/08/2023 by about half as much as the British pound (GBP) has strengthened . The current exchange rate of this EUR/GBP currency pair thus reflects this situation and on the day and time indicated the exchange rate was at 0.8568 GBP to EUR with the EUR down by -0.1631% against the GBP for the day to date.
