Asian markets rallied for a third day yesterday to wrap up a tumultous week as investors took heart from Wall's Street's gains overnight and positive US jobs figures.
Investors welcomed details of a tax rebate for American consumers announced as part of US President George W. Bush's economic stimulus plan. The tax rebate will put US$600 to US$1,200 in most taxpayers' pockets.
"The markets are reacting to news that Bush and Congress have agree to accelerate tax rebates for US consumers so they can go out and buy more exports from Asia," said Francis Lun, a general manager at Fulbright Securities in Hong Kong.
European markets also rose in early trading, and US stock index futures suggested that Wall Street would also advance. Dow Jones industrial average futures were up 56 points, or 0.45 percent, to 12,421, while NASDAQ Composite Index futures were up 19.50 points, or 1.1 percent, to 1,856.5.
Markets across Asia turned in robust gains, with stocks in Tokyo and Hong Kong nearly erasing steep losses suffered earlier this week.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 average surged 536.38 points, or 4.10 percent, to close at 13,629.16, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped 6.7 percent to 25,122.37 points.
India's benchmark Sensex rose 6.8 percent, while markets in Australia, South Korea and the Philippines also put in healthy advances. China's Shanghai benchmark index rose 1 percent.
Asian markets plunged on Monday and Tuesday on worries about a slowdown in the US, a key export market and the world's biggest economy.
They rebounded after the US Federal Reserve slashed interest rates by three-quarters of a point on Tuesday, a move that also restored some investor confidence on Wall Street.
For the week, Hong Kong's market -- which tumbled a combined 13.7 percent on Monday and Tuesday -- dipped just 0.3 percent, while the Nikkei fell 1.7 percent.
In early European trading yesterday, the UK's FTSE 100 added 0.3 percent, Germany's DAX gained 1.6 percent to 6,931.18 and France's CAC 40 climbed 1 percent.
Investors were cheered by gains on Thursday on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrials rose for a second day after the US Department of Labor said the number of people seeking unemployment benefits last week fell for a fourth straight week.
But traders are searching for clues about the US economy in hopes of determining whether it will soon pick up or perhaps slow and tip into recession.
A recovery in the dollar against the yen yesterday helped lift Japanese exporters' stocks, with Toyota Motor Corp jumping 6.3 percent, Honda Motor Co rising 6.5 percent and Sony Corp climbing 2.4 percent. The dollar was trading at ¥107.57, up from ¥106.79 late Thursday in New York.
Japanese Economy Minister Hiroko Ota told a parliamentary committee yesterday that the "direct impact of the US subprime loan problem on Japan has been limited." But she added weak share prices could dampen consumer appetite.
Hong Kong property stocks like Sun Hun Kai Properties led the market on expectations that the Fed would again slash rates when it meets on Tuesday and Wednesday. Hong Kong banks usually match US rate cuts as the Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the greenback.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.88 percent to 12,378.61 on Thursday, following a 2.5 percent surge on Wednesday.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day