Asian shares struggled to make headway on Friday as uncertainty over how much further the US Federal Reserve would cut interest rates added to investors’ worries over slowing global growth.
With the US-China trade row dragging on, and political tumult in Hong Kong, Italy and the UK adding to the tense backdrop, investors were keenly awaiting Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at a gathering of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, later in the day.
Powell’s remarks came after markets closed in East Asia.
He said the US economy was in a “favorable place” and the Fed would “act as appropriate” to keep the economic expansion on track.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific index rose 0.37 percent to 152.38, up 1.1 percent for the week.
The weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange ended up 8.33 points, or 0.08 percent, at 10,538.11, up 1.1 percent for the week.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei on Friday advanced 0.4 percent, up 1.43 percent for the week, and TOPIX rose 0.3 percent, carrying its weekly gain to 1.13 percent.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 ended the day with a 0.3 percent gain and was up 1.8 percent for the week.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.5 percent for the day and 1.7 percent for the week.
The Shanghai Composite Index on Friday rose 0.5 percent and was up 2.6 percent for the week.
India’s SENSEX on Friday rose 0.6 percent, paring its weekly losses to 1.7 percent. The NIFTY 50 added 0.8 percent for the day, but was down 1.9 percent for the week.
The Jakarta Composite Index rose 0.3 percent on Friday, paring its weekly losses to 0.5 percent.
“The markets are not impacted by the drop in yuan, primarily because capital accounts are well controlled and PBOC [People’s Bank of China] has managed market expectation well around the depreciation,” said Caroline Yu Maurer, head of greater China equities at BNP Paribas Asset Management.
Washington labeled China a currency manipulator early this month after a sharp slide in the yuan.
Additional reporting by CNA and staff writer
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer specializing in server chips, expects revenue to decline this year due to sagging demand for 5-nanometer artificial intelligence (AI) chips from a North America-based major customer, a company executive said yesterday. That would be the first contraction in revenue for Alchip as it has been enjoying strong revenue growth over the past few years, benefiting from cloud-service providers’ moves to reduce dependence on Nvidia Corp’s expensive AI chips by building their own AI accelerator by outsourcing chip design. The 5-nanometer chip was supposed to be a new growth engine as the lifecycle
RSS