Shares were mostly higher in Asia on Friday after the S&P 500 Index notched another record high, despite a surge in US consumer prices last month.
Shanghai fell and Tokyo was nearly unchanged, while shares rose in Taipei, Hong Kong, Seoul and Sydney.
On Thursday, Wall Street logged gains, while bond yields mostly fell, despite the much-anticipated report showing that consumer prices rose 5 percent last month, the biggest year-on-year increase since 2008 and more than economists had expected.
Investors also reacted positively to more data that showed continued improvement in the labor market.
The worry is that if signs of inflation persist, central banks might move to withdraw stimulus from the economy to ease price pressures.
However, investors are still buying into the US Federal Reserve’s stance that the current bout of inflation is transitory, Oanda Corp senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley said.
The TAIEX on Friday rose 0.2 percent to 17,213.52 percent, virtually unchanged for the week.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was unchanged for the day at 28,948.73, down only 7 points from last week’s close. The TOPIX on Friday lost 0.14 percent and fell 0.26 percent for the week.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong on Friday rose 0.4 percent to 28,842.13, down 0.26 percent weekly.
South Korea’s KOSPI on Friday added 0.8 percent to 3,249.32, rising 0.3 percent for the week.
The Shanghai Composite Index on Friday slipped 0.6 percent to 3,589.75, falling less than 0.1 percent for the week.
India’s SENSEX on Friday gained 0.3 percent, bringing its weekly gain to 0.7 percent. The NIFTY 50 on Friday added 0.4 percent and rose 0.8 percent weekly.
Investors will get to see next week how the Fed is reading the latest US inflation barometer and what monetary policy changes, if any, the central bank might consider. The Fed’s policymaking committee is due to deliver its latest economic and interest rate policy update on Wednesday.
Markets would also be tuning in this weekend for any developments at the summit of G7 in Britain. At the top of the leaders’ agenda is helping countries recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The G7 leaders are meeting for three days at a British seaside resort. It is the first such gathering since before the pandemic.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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