A strong set of trade data out of the US and receding fears over the Greek sovereign debt crisis pushed Asian markets higher yesterday.
Sentiment has been lifted by a deal signed by the EU that ensures Athens pays off its enormous deficit, which has weighed on stocks and the euro for several weeks.
“The Greek debt situation seems to have calmed down for the time being and commodity markets are picking up,” Nikko Cordial senior strategist Tsuyoshi Kawata told Dow Jones Newswires. “Market sentiment may stay fairly upbeat for the rest of this week.”
Tokyo surged 2.72 percent, or 272.58 points, to 10,306.83. Shares in Toyota ended flat at ¥3,380 (US$37.32), a day after US authorities asked the world’s largest carmaker to hand over documents to prove it did not drag its feet in recalling millions of potentially defective vehicles.
Hong Kong closed up 1.31 percent, or 265.32 points, at 20,534.01 on the first trading day of the Year of the Tiger after a break for the Lunar New Year.
Chinese lenders led the blue-chip rally, unaffected by Beijing’s move to increase the amount of money financial institutions must keep in reserve, in an effort to rein in rampant lending amid fears of asset bubbles.
Bank of China rose 1.8 percent, ICBC gained 2.2 percent and Bank of Communications was 1.4 percent higher. Heavyweight HSBC was up 1.9 percent at 82.30. The People’s Bank of China said last Friday it would raise the reserve-requirement ratio for banks by half a percentage point from next Thursday, for the second increase this year. Shanghai and Taipei remain closed until Monday.
Sydney powered ahead by 2.19 percent, or 100.1 points, at 4,667.9, posting its biggest daily rise since Nov. 30.
“It was extremely positive to see the market close near session highs as it suggests a change in investor psyche and a growing confidence in the sustainability of further gains,” IG Markets research analyst Ben Potter said.
Seoul closed up 1.65 percent, or 26.38 points at 1,627.43.
Dealers took a cue from Wall Street, where the Dow Jones ended up 1.68 percent after the New York Federal Reserve Bank said manufacturing activity in the New York region expanded last month at a faster pace than expected.
The euro extended gains from the previous day as concerns over Greece eased, with the European unit up to US$1.3781 in Tokyo afternoon trade from US$1.3764 in New York late on Tuesday, and to ¥124.45 from ¥124.09. The US dollar gained to ¥90.33 from ¥90.13.
The euro last week sank to a nine-month low on the back of the debt crisis as investors became more risk averse.
Oil was higher, with New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, up US$0.34 to US$77.35 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for April delivery was up US$0.22 to US$75.90.
In other markets, Singapore closed up 35.16 points, or 1.27 percent, at 2,794.06.
“Given that this uptrend had been accompanied with muted trading volume, we believe that this technical rebound lacks conviction,” DMG technical analyst James Lim said.
Manila closed up 1.72 percent, or 50.96 points, at 3,018.67, a sixth straight rise. Jakarta closed up 22.84 points, or 0.89 percent, at 2,581.34.
Kuala Lumpur gained 5.68 points, or 0.45 percent, to close at 1,259.07. Bangkok gained 4.76 points, or 0.69 percent, to close at 697.49. Wellington added 0.76 percent, or 23.49 points, to 3,111.10.
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