Asian stocks posted their first weekly advance this month as a weaker yen spurred gains in Japanese shares and optimism grew that the US economy would be able to cope with higher borrowing costs.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.6 percent to 135.73 on Friday, with commodity producers surging the most this week among industry groups.
Japanese shares stretched their rally to levels unseen since the Bank of Japan introduced negative interest rates in January. Chinese stocks traded in Hong Kong had their steepest weekly increase since July, and Indian equities erased a weekly loss as the rupee climbed from a record low.
Economic data and the prospect of increased spending under US president-elect Donald Trump have made a US Federal Reserve interest-rate next month a near certainty, propelling the greenback to its strongest level in a decade versus major peers.
A rout in emerging-market assets faded on Friday as currencies recovered.
“There’s this anticipation of the US raising rates that is a positive signal that the US economy is strong and that’ll keep pushing additional inflows into the dollar,” Niv Dagan, executive director at Peak Asset Management LLC, said by phone from Melbourne.
In Taipei, shares closed slightly higher on Friday as turnover fell due to the US Thanksgiving holiday, which kept many foreign institutional investors away, dealers said.
The low trading volume restricted the bellwether electronics sector and selling was focused on select large-cap stocks, while the financial sector gained steam, helping to push the broader market above the previous closing level, dealers said.
The TAIEX edged up 0.08 percent to 9,159.07, a 1.7 percent gain from 9,008.70 a week earlier.
“In the absence of any cues from Wall Street, shares here simply drifted throughout the entire session,” Ta Ching Securities (大慶證券) analyst Andy Hsu (許博傑) said. “It was no surprise that the turnover was low since many foreign institutional investors were away from the trading floor for the holiday.”
The electronics sector closed down 0.23 percent, while the financial sector closed up 1.12 percent.
“The financial sector benefited from hopes that its bottom line will strengthen as interest rates rise,” Hsu said. “But because the sector has gained strongly in recent sessions, I think there is little room for further upturn.”
Japan’s TOPIX advanced 0.3 percent, rebounding from afternoon losses to keep alive its longest winning streak since June last year, as a continuing recovery in automakers overshadowed a sharp drop in bank shares. Tokyo shares found support as the yen traded near its lowest since March.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.4 percent to the highest close since August and South Korea’s KOSPI added 0.2 percent.
The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of the nation’s shares traded in Hong Kong climbed to the highest since Oct. 25, as insurers extended a surge amid bets their investment returns will improve. The measure capped a 4.7 percent advance this week.
Indian shares climbed 1.3 percent, led by metal producers and software exporters, and headed for its first weekly gain in five weeks. The rupee rebounded 0.4 percent after it breached the record low set in 2013 on Thursday.
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