Emerging market (EM) stocks climbed the most since August last year, erasing this week’s decline, as oil gained and speculation that central banks would expand stimulus spurred a revival of risk appetite. Russia’s ruble rebounded from an all-time low.
Energy companies paced gains in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index as Brent crude oil rallied 9.7 percent to surpass US$32 per barrel.
The TAIEX jumped 1.2 percent on Friday to close at 7,756.18, up from 7,742.88 on Friday last week.
Chinese stocks trading in Hong Kong advanced from a six-year low as PetroChina Co (中石油) and China Shenhua Energy Co (神華能源) surged and the government signaled it would curb overcapacity in industries such as coal.
Global policymakers are being pushed to act to counter the fallout from slumping commodities and China’s deepest economic slowdown since 1990 that has roiled global markets.
European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi indicated he might bolster economic support as soon as March, while Malaysia cut the amount of cash banks must set aside as reserves for the first time since 2009.
Developing nation stocks have had their worst start to a year since 2008, with US$2.5 trillion shaved off the value of equities this year.
“We could find a trigger in yesterday’s [Friday’s] statements by the ECB that changed the mood quite dramatically among international investors, which led to a clear risk-on sentiment,” UBS Wealth Management New York-based emerging markets strategist Alejo Czerwonko said. “It’s a reversal from the starting risk-off vault that’s dominated the better part of the year so far.”
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index climbed 3.2 percent to 710.66. The gauge closed at the lowest since May 2009 on Thursday, sending valuations to their cheapest since March 2014. The 14-day relative strength index closed below 30 for a 12th day on Thursday, before climbing to 35 on Friday.
Developing nation stocks trade at an average 10.4 times projected 12-month earnings, an about 30 percent discount to advanced country shares in the MSCI World Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
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