Saturday, October 1, 2022, Tokyo Tower (left) and commercial and residential buildings in Minato Ward, Tokyo. Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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Asia-Pacific markets were mostly higher on Friday, led by gains on Wall Street, where the S&P index rose for the fourth day in a row.
The only outliers were Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index, which seesawed 1.3% in volatile trading, and mainland China’s CSI300 index, which fell more than 1%.
Eugene Xiao, head of China equity strategy at Macquarie Capital, said investors may be taking a wait-and-see approach as they wait for clarity on U.S.-China tariffs.
He added that further stimulus announcements by the Chinese government may not be announced until Congress in March.
Asian investors also appreciated Japan’s October consumer price index data. Core inflation, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, rose 2.3% from a year earlier, slightly above expectations of 2.2%, according to a Reuters survey of analysts. This was lower than the previous month’s 2.4%.
The overall CPI was 2.3%, compared to 2.5% in September.
Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.86%, while the broader TOPIX rose 0.68%. Elsewhere, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.96%, reversing two days of losses.
Excellent company in Korea Kospi index rose 1.08%, while the small-cap Kosdaq rose 0.2%.
Singapore’s third quarter GDP expanded by 5.4% compared to the same period last year, particularly exceeding the revised 3.0% in the previous quarter. According to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, the economic growth rate was 3.2% quarter-on-quarter, accelerating from 0.5% in the second quarter.
Singapore has also raised its economic growth forecast for this year from “2.0 to 3.0%” to “around 3.5%.”
In the US, the three major indexes rose last night and are expected to close higher this week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 462 points, or 1.06%, to close at 43,270.35, and the S&P 500 rose 0.53%, to close at 5,948.71. The Nasdaq Composite Index, which has a high proportion of high-tech stocks, rose 0.03% to end at 18,972.42.
Oil prices rose more than 2% after President Vladimir Putin admitted that Russia had fired a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile into Ukraine and warned that more ballistic missiles could be launched. This is the latest in a series of escalations.
