Asian stocks rose, with the regional benchmark index extending their biggest weekly advance in six weeks, as technology and consumer companies advanced.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.4 percent to 134.45 at 1:40pm in London, taking its advance this week to 1.7 percent. The gauge, which has rallied 11 percent from a September low, posted the biggest daily jump in a month on Thursday amid optimism the US Federal Reserve’s pace of tightening will be gradual.
“The Fed has made it clear that its base case is for a lift-off in December and if they were to break that, it would be a huge, market-moving event,” Melbourne-based IG Ltd strategist Evan Lucas said. “It’s been very positive for markets this week, with equities responding favorably to this macro picture.”
The TAIEX on Friday slipped 0.14 percent to 8,465.45. HTC Corp (宏達電) climbed 7 percent.
Sharp Corp advanced 4.8 percent after a report the money-losing electronics company’s television business will post a profit next year. Kose Corp rose 6.1 percent after Credit Suisse Group AG raised its share-price forecast on the cosmetics maker. Hyundai Merchant Marine Co jumped 26 percent in Seoul on news North Korea is proposing talks with South Korea next week.
Japan’s TOPIX closed 0.2 percent higher, turning positive in the final minutes of trading and erasing losses of as much as 0.6 percent.
Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, who unleashed unprecedented monetary stimulus in 2013 and doubled down on it last year, is done expanding his efforts, according to an increasing number of economists.
“There’s a lack of catalysts for the market but some people might trade to adjust their positions,” Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance Co general manager of equities Ichiro Yamada said. “If the market is going anywhere, then up is the most likely direction.”
The Shanghai Composite Index advanced 0.4 percent as declining volatility and rebounding margin debt suggest government measures to stabilize equity markets are paying off. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index climbed 1.1 percent, reversing earlier losses of as much as 0.6 percent. The Hang Seng Index also gained 1.1 percent.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.3 percent and New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 Index added 0.2 percent. South Korea’s KOSPI and Singapore’s Straits Times Index were little changed.
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
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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
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