Asian stocks extended gains on Friday thanks to Wall Street scoring all-time highs, as investors gravitated to the view that the latest exchange of tariffs between the US and China might be less damaging than initially feared.
A rally in Chinese markets helped lift the MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan 1.15 percent, buoyed in part by expectations that Beijing will pump more stimulus into its economy to weather the trade war.
The MSCI index has rebounded 4.6 percent from a 14-month low on Sept. 12.
The weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange closed up 141 points, or 1.3 percent, at the day’s high of 10,972.41. The TAIEX rose 1 percent from last week’s 10,868.14 points.
Shares of China’s consumer goods companies climbed on expectations of rising sales after China’s State Council issued guidelines to boost the country’s consumption potential.
An index tracking major consumer firms rose 1.76 percent.
China hopes the US will show sincerity and take steps to correct its behavior, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday, after both countries slapped new tariffs on each other’s goods this week in an escalating trade war.
The administration of US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on the Chinese military for buying fighter jets and missile systems from Russia in contravention of a sweeping US sanctions law.
In Japan, the TOPIX roared back to life, capping a gain of 4.4 percent in a four-day week, even as the US and China pressed ahead with additional tariffs on each other’s goods.
Japan’s rally followed a large selloff by foreign investors that had made the benchmark gauge one of the worst performers among developed markets this year.
In another sign of how bearish things have been, short selling has accounted for more than 40 percent of trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange for much of this year.
As of Friday, the TOPIX was down less than 1 percent year-to-date, paring a drop of more than 8 percent as of March.
The Nikkei 225 Stock Average has already moved back into the green, up 4.9 percent for this year to about 23,870.
Martin Malone of Mint Partners in London predicted the blue chip measure will reach 26,500 by Christmas, while Ryoji Musha of Musha Research Co in Tokyo targets 27,000 by the end of the year.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index on Friday advanced 1.7 percent to 27,953.58, up 2.4 percent for the week.
The Shanghai Composite Index on Friday rose 2.5 percent on Friday, rising 4.3 percent for the week.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index on Friday gained 0.4 percent and rose 0.5 from last week.
Additional reporting by staff writer, with CNA
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said second-quarter revenue is expected to surpass the first quarter, which rose 30 percent year-on-year to NT$118.92 billion (US$3.71 billion). Revenue this quarter is likely to grow, as US clients have front-loaded orders ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on Taiwanese goods, Delta chairman Ping Cheng (鄭平) said at an earnings conference in Taipei, referring to the 90-day pause in tariff implementation Trump announced on April 9. While situations in the third and fourth quarters remain unclear, “We will not halt our long-term deployments and do not plan to
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
RSS