Asian stocks rose, with the regional benchmark index capping the biggest weekly gain in seven months as the yen traded near ¥100 per US dollar and slower-than-estimated inflation in China eased concern about monetary policy tightening.
BHP Billiton Ltd, a mining company that gets 30 percent of its revenue in China, advanced 3.4 percent in Sydney. Toyota Motor Corp jumped 11 percent even after defective airbag inflators led Japan’s three biggest carmakers, including Toyota, to recall more than 3 million vehicles. China Southern Airlines Co (中國南方航空) rose 3.6 percent in Hong Kong after a slump last week on concern an outbreak of bird flu in China would hurt travel demand.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 3.5 percent to 138.17 this week, the biggest weekly gain since the period ended on Sept. 14 last year. The measure on Thursday closed at its highest level since August 2011.
Japan’s TOPIX rallied 7.7 percent in its best week since December 2009, with the Bank of Japan reiterating a pledge to continue stimulus.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rallied 6.8 percent this year amid optimism Japan will deploy more stimulus and that policymakers in the US and China remain on standby to support growth. Asia’s benchmark trades at 14 times average estimated earnings, compared with 14.4 for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and 12.6 for the STOXX Europe 600 Index, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
The TAIEX slid 1.5 percent this week after capping the biggest drop in 10 months on Monday.
On Friday, the index fell 0.46 percent, or 36.35 points, to 7,821.63, with Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (鴻海精密) dropping 2.36 percent to NT$78.60, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was down 0.99 percent at NT$100.50.
In other markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.7 percent and China’s Shanghai Composite Index retreated 0.8 percent as data on Wednesday showed that China’s consumer price index rose 2.1 percent last month from a year earlier.
South Korea’s KOSPI dipped 0.2 percent as foreigners sold shares amid concerns that North Korea would conduct a missile test. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 2.5 percent, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index slipped 0.2 percent.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) has signaled that his government will take steps this year to loosen state control over interest rates as part of efforts to sustain economic growth.
China’s imports rose by a better-than-forecast 14.1 percent last month, while export growth slowed to 10 percent from a year earlier, the Chinese General Administration of Customs said on Wednesday.
Separately, new local currency loans last month were 1.06 trillion yuan (US$171 billion), the People’s Bank of China said on Thursday, beating a 900 billion yuan median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.
Companies that do business in China and are sensitive to growth rose. BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest miner, gained 3.4 percent to A$33.35, the first weekly advance since the period ended on Feb. 15. Rio Tinto Group, Australia’s second-largest miner by market value, added 2.3 percent to A$56.90.
Japanese stocks rallied as the yen dropped and Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Wednesday reiterated a pledge to achieve a 2 percent inflation target within two years.
Toyota Motor, the world’s biggest carmaker, soared 11 percent to ¥5,660, as video game console maker Nintendo Co jumped 10 percent to ¥11,400. Komatsu Ltd, a construction machinery maker that gets 80 percent of its revenue outside Japan, surged 14 percent to ¥2,505.
Hong Kong-listed airlines rebounded this week as concerns over an outbreak of a new strain of bird flu in China eased. A four-year-old boy in Shanghai was discharged from a local hospital on April 10 after recovering from the H7N9 avian influenza, the first patient declared cured.
China Southern Airlines rose 3.6 percent to HK$4.01 after falling 13 percent last week. Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd (國泰航空), Hong Kong’s largest international carrier, climbed 3.3 percent to HK$12.68 after hitting a seven-month low last week.
In other markets on Friday:
Manila closed 0.87 percent higher than on Thursday, adding 59.69 points to reach 6,891.43.
Wellington closed 0.59 percent, or 26.23 points, higher at 4,435.77.
Mumbai fell 1.62 percent, or 299.64 points, to 18,242.56.
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],”
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
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained