Asian stocks rose for a third day on Friday after data on US retail sales bolstered confidence in the strength of the world’s biggest economy. Chinese shares rallied on speculation policymakers would boost stimulus.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.5 percent to 148.24 on Friday in Hong Kong and edged up 0.2 percent from the previous week’s 147.95. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 0.2 percent on Thursday as sales at US retailers picked up last month and applications for unemployment benefits remained below 300,000 for a 14th straight week. The IMF said its team negotiating with Greece left Brussels after failing to make progress on a debt deal.
“The US numbers were quite strong,” Tony Farnham, an analyst at Patersons Securities Ltd in Sydney, said by phone. “Some investors are starting to realize that US growth is OK and that should help justify the Fed normalizing rates later this year. The Greek problem needs to be fixed. It could cause a bit of dislocation in markets if Greece defaults.”
European Council President Donald Tusk told Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to stop maneuvering and decide whether to accept the conditions on financial aid. Tusk abandoned his neutral position as a broker of EU compromises to signal Greece’s creditors are preparing to hand Tsipras an ultimatum.
TAIPEI FLAT
In Taipei, the TAIEX closed little changed at 9,301.93 on Friday amid lingering concerns over the debt problems in Greece, dealers said. The index slid 0.4 percent from the previous week’s 9,340.13.
While the broader market remained in the doldrums, the financial sector moved higher in the wake of a move by the Financial Supervisory Commission to remove the ceiling on the value of credit trading — margin trading and securities borrowing — as part of its efforts to boost activity in the local equity market, the dealers said.
Gainers included Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控), which rose 1.46 percent to NT$27.80, and E. Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控), which climbed 1.95 percent to NT$20.95.
China’s Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.9 percent on Friday. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rose 1.8 percent, the most since May 26. Data this week showed parts of the economy stabilizing as factory output and credit growth accelerated last month, while exports and producer prices slid.
“May’s macro data was generally better than April, but wasn’t strong enough to confirm a firmer recovery,” said Clement Cheng, a Hong Kong-based trader at RBC Investment Management. “That’s how the market is expecting further monetary loosening to come.”
ADVANCERS
Japan’s TOPIX added 0.2 percent after the yen slid 0.6 percent against the US dollar on Thursday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced 1.4 percent. Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 0.2 percent. South Korea’s KOSPI, New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index each lost 0.2 percent.
Elsewhere in Asia, Mumbai climbed 0.21 percent; Jakarta edged up 0.14 percent; Kuala Lumpur was flat; and Bangkok slipped 0.43 percent. Manila was closed for a public holiday.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by