External Background.
The S&P 500 lost 0.5% yesterday. The technology sector was in the negative zone, with the semiconductor manufacturing subsector hit particularly hard. Nvidia fell by 7%, Qualcomm by 4.9%, and Broadcom by 4.5%. Microsoft dropped more than 7% after the market closed due to reports of a slight revenue miss in cloud technologies. Currently, after-hours losses have narrowed to -2.7%. Amid this sell-off, AMD only lost 1% following an optimistic sales forecast. Meanwhile, the Fed began a two-day meeting. David Solomon from Goldman now considers one or two rate cuts later this year to be more likely. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 and DAX indices showed a 0.5% increase. Eurozone GDP grew more than expected in the last quarter, increasing by 0.3%. Steady growth in France and Spain allowed it to avoid an unexpected downturn in Germany, where inflation unexpectedly rose to 2.6% in July. This morning, the Chinese market shows decent growth, with both the Hong Kong Hang Seng and the mainland CSI 300 rising by 2%. The manufacturing PMI was at 49.4 points, which was within expectations but lower than the previous figure of 49.5 (in June). The slowdown in industrial activity has been observed for three consecutive months. On the other hand, market expectations have risen that authorities will enhance support for their struggling economy, leading to this growth. Futures on the S&P 500 index indicate a 0.4% increase. In commodity markets, oil is trading at $79.31. According to Macquarie, oil prices are likely to continue to fall after August as OPEC+ considers lifting some cuts amid weak demand.
Bonds.
The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasuries has fallen to its lowest levels since March of this year.
KASE Index.
The KASE index showed a moderate session, corresponding to movement in a sideways trend. Trading volumes were slightly above those of the day before, but there is a noticeable trend of slowing market activity since July 10.
Index Stocks.
The movement of most stocks in yesterday's session did not reflect their overall picture. Additionally, several stocks, such as the National Bank, Kcell, KEGOC, and BCK, are currently stuck in strong sideways trends (since July 12). The biggest decline yesterday was seen in Air Astana shares, which are correcting after a rise from July 19 to 25. The largest growth was in Kaztransoil at 1%. Stocks have shown a trend of relatively slow price declines since June of this year. On the LSE and NYSE, prices were also in the negative zone. Kaspi suffered the biggest loss at 1.8%. Notably, there is currently a price difference of 7.2% in favor of KASE shares compared to ADS and common shares, which may impact stock dynamics in the future. Kazatomprom GDRs are struggling to maintain the support level of $37.8.
Currency.
USD/KZT is trading at 473.4 on forex and 473.7 on KASE this morning. The local consolidation movement continues.