Asian stocks outside Japan rose, with a regional gauge heading for a one-month high, as healthcare stocks led gains after the US Federal Reserve’s decision not to raise interest rates eased the risk of capital outflows from developing nations.
Hanmi Pharm Co surged 11 percent in Seoul. Newcrest Mining Ltd, Australia’s biggest gold producer, jumped 6.9 percent in Sydney as bullion headed for its first weekly advance in four weeks. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc and Mizuho Financial Group Inc fell at least 1.9 percent in Tokyo after the lenders’ credit rating was cut by Standard & Poor’s following its downgrade of Japan.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Ex-Japan Index advanced 1.1 percent to 412.93 as of 4:01pm in Hong Kong. Japan’s TOPIX slid 2 percent after the yen gained against the dollar. US rates will remain near zero for at least another month after the Fed’s decision, which showed policymakers are reluctant to end record monetary stimulus at a time when uncertainty over China and other developing nations is roiling global markets.
Odds of an increase this year have fallen below 50 percent, with Fed Chair Janet Yellen saying the recent turmoil may restrain the US economy and suppress already slow inflation.
“It’s a supportive outcome for markets and provided a reminder the Fed’s not going to do anything stupid,” Shane Oliver, global strategist at AMP Capital Investors Ltd, which manages US$112 billion, said from Sydney. “If you’re overweight equities, you probably say: The Fed’s not going to harm us. It’s quite possible that this gets pushed out further and further, into next year.”
South Korea’s KOSPI increased 1 percent. The TAIEX gained 0.2 percent to close at 8,426.14. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index added 0.5 percent. New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 0.3 percent. Singapore’s Straits Times Index advanced 0.2 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.3 percent.
CHINESE HOUSING
Chinese stocks rose as improving property data boosted developers. The Shanghai Composite Index added 0.4 percent, paring this week’s loss to 3.2 percent, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of Chinese stocks traded in Hong Kong advanced 0.6 percent.
Data released on Friday showed China’s home prices rose last month in half of the 70 cities monitored by the government.
Signs of a strengthening real-estate market may alleviate some concerns about China’s economy after recent data showed weakness in manufacturing and industrial output.
US FUTURES
E-mini futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.1 percent. The underlying US equity benchmark gauge dropped 0.3 percent on Thursday.
Yellen said most Fed officials still expect a rate increase this year and that the US economy is performing well. She reinforced that the path of rate increases would be gradual.
Odds of a hike next month are now at 17 percent, and bets on one in December last year have slumped to 45 percent, from 59 percent a week ago, according to Fed funds futures.
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
MAJOR BENEFICIARY: The company benefits from TSMC’s advanced packaging scarcity, given robust demand for Nvidia AI chips, analysts said ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packaging and testing service provider, yesterday said it is raising its equipment capital expenditure budget by 10 percent this year to expand leading-edge and advanced packing and testing capacity amid strong artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing chip demand. This is on top of the 40 to 50 percent annual increase in its capital spending budget to more than the US$1.7 billion to announced in February. About half of the equipment capital expenditure would be spent on leading-edge and advanced packaging and testing technology, the company said. ASE is considered by analysts