Stock market today: Asian shares fall, India benchmark plunges 8%

Asian stocks fell on Tuesday, with India’s Sensex falling as much as 8%, as investors who bought shares after exit polls showed Prime Minister Narendra Modi winning a third term sold to lock in profits.

Oil prices fell and US futures rose.

By mid-afternoon, the Sensex in Mumbai was trading 7.1% lower at 71,020.45, as the vote count for the six-week-long national elections appeared to show a lower-than-expected seat count for Modi’s party, although his National Democratic Alliance comfortably led its closest rival.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index lost 0.2% to 38,837.46 and the Kospi in Seoul fell 0.8% to 2,660.69. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was the biggest outlier, gaining 0.5% to 18,494.28, while the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.1% to 3,076.96.

S of Australia&P/ASX 200 fell 03% to 7,740.80. Taiwan’s Taiex lost 0.8%.

On Monday, US stocks fell to a mixed finish.

YOU&OP 500 rose 0.1% to 5,283.40, although most stocks in the index fell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% to 38,571.03 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.6% to 16,828.67.

Treasury yields also fell in the bond market after the Institute for Supply Management report showed that U.S. production shrank in May for the 18th time in 19 months. The manufacturing industry was particularly hard hit by high interest rates aimed at controlling high inflation. This could also hit Asian economies that depend on exports.

Analysts questioned the importance of the report, given that the indicator has been declining for most of the past two years.

“So why such a distinct wave of pessimism in the US this time? Was it a fabricated excuse to make profits? Or is there a deeper cause for concern under the hood?” Tan Jing Yi of Mizuho Bank said in comments. “We suspect it’s a little of both.”

The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 4.39% from 4.50% on Friday.

This week we have several other high-profile economic reports that could send yields into additional sharp swings.

On Tuesday, the U.S. government will show how many job openings employers were advertising at the end of April. And on Friday, it will present the latest monthly update on overall employment and worker wage growth.

Shares of companies whose profits are most closely tied to the strength of the economy have fallen to the market’s worst losses. This included the oil and gas industry, as the price of oil fell due to concerns about weaker fuel demand growth.

Halliburton fell 5.3% and Exxon Mobil fell 2.4%. They sank when the price of a barrel of US oil fell 3.5%. Brent crude, the international standard, lost a similar amount despite moves over the weekend Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries intended to support its price.

On the winning side were some big tech stocks that continue to soar regardless of what the economy is doing.

Nvidia rose another 4.9% to take its gain this year to 132.2% after launching new products and services over the weekend. It’s delivering explosive profits to head off criticism that investors have become overzealous about AI’s prospects. Nvidia was by far the strongest force pushing the S&P500 and up.

The jump was even bigger in another corner of Wall Street, well accustomed to stomach-churning swings both up and down.

GameStop soared 21% in a move reminiscent of its rocket ride in early 2021 what shook Wall Street and brought the term “meme stock” into the language of our times. GameStop jumped after a Reddit account associated with a central character in the 2021 episode said it had accumulated a stake of 5 million shares, along with options to buy more. The Sunday night post said the position was worth $181.4 million.

In other trading Tuesday morning, benchmark U.S. crude oil lost 85 cents to $73.37 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 77 cents to $77.59 per barrel.

The US dollar rose to 156.13 Japanese yen from 156.10 yen. The euro fell from $1.0904 to $1.0902.