Asian stocks rose this week as better-than-estimated economic data from South Korea to the US eased concern about surging oil prices following tension in North Africa and the Middle East.
Doosan Infracore Co and Hyundai Motor Co climbed more than 5 percent in Seoul after industrial production in South Korea quickened. Komatsu Ltd, Asia’s No. 1 maker of construction machinery, jumped 9.3 percent in Tokyo on the prospects for home building in China.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 1.9 percent to 139.41 this week. The gauge dropped 2.1 percent last week on concern higher oil prices following uprisings in Libya and the Middle East will slow a global economic recovery.
“There’s been a tug of war between the strong economy on the one side and higher oil prices and the unrest in the Middle East on the other, but the positive news is increasing,” said Koichi Kurose, chief strategist in Tokyo at Resona Bank Ltd. “The US is gradually approaching a self-sustaining recovery.”
Taiwan’s TAIEX rose 2.2 percent this week to close at 8,784.40 on Friday.
An analyst with SinoPac Securities Investment Trust Co (永豐金證券) said heavy short-selling might emerge as the weighted index moves toward the 8,800-point mark, a major resistance threshold for investors in the short term.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 increased 1.6 percent this week, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.6 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 1.8 percent and China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 2.2 percent.
South Korea’s KOSPI index advanced 2.1 percent as factory output rose 13.7 percent in January from a year earlier, topping economist forecasts.
In other markets on Friday:
Manila rose 1.27 percent, or 48.66 points from Thursday, to 3,882.71, despite higher-than-expected inflation of 4.3 percent last month.
Wellington gained 0.61 percent, or 20.80 points from Thursday, to 3,418.11.
Mumbai closed flat, edging down 3.31 points from Thursday to 18,486.45.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last