Day: August 4, 2021

Major stock markets in Asia recovered Wednesday from their losses in previous session to end higher except Japan, while two major European indices hit new record highs.

Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, rose 17 points, or 0.46%, to close at 3,882.

Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, added 231 points, or 0.88%, to 26,426, while China’s Shanghai stock exchange was up 29, or 0.85%, to 3,477 points.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 stock exchange, on the other hand, declined 57, or 0.21%, to 27,584 points.

The decline in Nikkei 225 came amid the rising cases of the Delta variant of the coronavirus in the country and investors taking a sell-off position in Toyota shares to take advantage of Japanese automaker’s strong earnings in second quarter.

All four indexes in Asia closed lower Tuesday with losses between 0.16% and 0.5%.

In Europe, indexes have continued to increase after gains on Monday and Tuesday, despite German lender Commerzbank’s earnings disappointed.

The bank had a €478 million $(567 million) loss in the second quarter, down from €211 million in the same quarter of last year. Revenue fell 18% to €1.86 billion from €2.27 billion.

STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 European countries, was up 0.6% to 468.18 points at 1010GMT. The French stock market, CAC 40, rose 0.63% to 6,766. Both indexes hit their all-time highs earlier with 468.39 and 6,766.61 points, respectively.

London’s FTSE 100 increased 0.4% to 7,134 points, and Germany’s DAX 30 soared 0.87% to 15,690 at that time.

While Italy’s Borsa Italiana FTSE MIB 30 gained 0.57% at 25,430, Spain’s IBEX 35 was almost flat at 8,774.

European indices closed Tuesday higher except Germany.

Source: Anadolu Agency

A Syrian graffiti artist has painted the wall of a house in the northwestern province of Idlib that shows the fight against forest fires in Turkey.

Aziz Esmer, known for drawing important global events on the walls of destroyed buildings in the province, this time turned his focus to forest fires in Turkey.

Esmer painted graffiti on a house in Binnis district where he lived with the words, “Get well soon, Turkey.”

His work in solidarity with the Turkish people describes the response of a firefighter to a fire in an area close to a refugee settlement.

He expressed to Anadolu Agency his sadness about the ongoing wildfires.

“After the start of forest fires in Turkey and their reach to settlements, solidarity with Turkey was necessary. Turkey has given martyrs in Syria. Therefore, we had to stand in solidarity with Turkey,” he said.

Esmer stressed his desire to put out the fires as soon as possible. “We are sending our wishes to the Turkish people to get well soon with the drawing we made on a wall in Binnis,” he said.

He cited Turkey’s support for the oppressed in Syria: “We believe that the fires will be over in the near future. I hope this will be the end of bitter sadness. Our hearts are with the Turkish people,” he said.

Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said earlier that 16,603 residents from 3,219 households in 28 neighborhoods were evacuated because of the fires in the southern part of the country.

At least eight people were killed since the fires started last Wednesday.

*Writing by Merve Berker

Source: Anadolu Agency

Stephen Curry, 33, on Tuesday extended his contract with the Golden State Warriors with a four-year contract worth $215 million, according to NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski.

The two-time MVP point guard will be part of a roster at the San Francisco team including All-Stars Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.

Curry had a spectacular season in 2020-2021, winning his second scoring title with 32 points per game and earning a place in the All-NBA first team for the 4th time.

Carmelo Anthony signs with Lakers

Carmelo Anthony signed with the L.A. Lakers on Tuesday, Wojnarowski reported separately.

Anthony, 37, agreed to a one-year contract with the Lakers.

After Anthony’s move, the Lakers now boast a roster of many veterans, including LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Trevor Ariza, Dwight Howard, and Marc Gasol.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Land surface temperatures reached a staggering 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) in Turkey and on Cyprus island, a map released Tuesday by the European Space Agency (ESA) showed.

The ESA shared the map showing sea and land surface temperatures that were captured by Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellites on Aug. 2.

“The Mediterranean has been suffering a heatwave for some weeks, leading to numerous wildfires. Turkey, for example, is reported to be amid the country’s worst blazes in at least a decade,” said the agency.

“While weather forecasts use predicted air temperatures, this satellite instrument measures the real amount of energy radiating from Earth – and depicts the real temperature of the land surface,” it added.

Source: Anadolu Agency