Asian stocks rose while the US dollar held gains, with a gauge measuring the US currency against major peers headed for its biggest weekly advance since January, before data on the US jobs market.
Oil in New York climbed.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.5 percent by 10:57am in Tokyo, paring its first drop in five weeks. Japan’s TOPIX index is heading for a more-than seven-year high.
The TAIEX fell 0.28 percent, or 26.64 points, to 9.595.09. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) shed 0.33 percent to NT$150, but smartphone maker HTC Corp (宏達電) rose 0.23 percent to NT$88.5.
The TOPIX rose 0.6 percent toward its highest close since December 2007. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average jumped 1 percent to an almost 15-year high as Uny Group Holdings Co climbed 8.7 percent after FamilyMart Co, Japan’s third-largest convenience store operator, said it is in talks with the department store chain about a possible merger.
The KOSPI in Seoul gained 0.3 percent, while New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index rose 0.5 percent after reaching a record earlier in the week. The S&P/ASX 200 Index declined 0.4 percent, driven lower by mining companies after the price of iron ore, Australia’s biggest export earner, slid below US$60 per dry tonne at China’s Qingdao port for the first time since at least 2009.
The Hang Seng Index added 0.4 percent in Hong Kong. Concern over the slowdown in China’s economy intensified when policymakers cut interest rates for the second time in three months last weekend. China’s economic growth goal for this year was set at about 7 percent on Thursday, down from last year’s target of about 7.5 percent. Data due today may show Chinese exports swung back to growth last month, while imports dropped for a fourth straight month, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
In other markets on Friday, Wellington eased 0.29 percent, or 17.31 points, to 5,8456.77. Telecom giant Spark was down 1.22 percent at NZ$3.25 and Air New Zealand slipped 0.17 percent to NZ$2.95.
Manila closed 0.37 percent, or 28.79 points, lower at 7,819.04.
Mumbai was closed for a public holiday.
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