Shares in Asia were mixed on Friday after a muddled day on Wall Street, where benchmarks meandered following another encouraging report about inflation.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 surged 2.62 percent, catching up on gains after being closed on Thursday for a holiday. Taiwan and Seoul also advanced, while Sydney declined.
Markets got a boost Thursday after a report showed inflation at the wholesale level slowed more than economists expected last month. That came a day after a cooler-than-expected reading on inflation at the consumer level, which raised hopes among investors that inflation might be close to a peak and that the US Federal Reserve could be less aggressive about raising interest rates than feared.
Photo: AP
Inflation is still painfully high and the economy has given false signals before that relief was on the way, only for investors to have the rug pulled out from underneath them.
Some Fed officials also made comments after Wednesday’s inflation report suggesting their battle against rising prices is far from over.
“Stocks were unable to hold onto robust gains following back-to-back reports that suggest inflation has peaked. After a little pushback from the Fed, Wall Street is starting to second guess how soon the Fed will be in a position to pivot” to slowing rate hikes, Oanda Corp senior market analyst Edward Moya of OANDA said.
In Taiwan, the TAIEX, closed up 91.12 points, or 0.6 percent, at 15,288.97, up 1.68 percent from a week earlier. Turnover totaled NT$205.351 billion (US$6.85 billion).
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 727.65 points to 28,546.98, while the broader TOPIX rose 2.04 percent to 1,973.18. Both indices gained 2.2 percent weekly.
Seoul’s KOSPI edged 0.16 percent higher to 2,527.94, posting a weekly increase of 1.49 percent.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 0.46 percent to 20,175.62, but lost 0.13 percent from a week earlier, while the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.15 percent to 3,276.89, rising 1.55 percent weekly.
Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.54 percent to 7,032.5, up 0.24 percent on the week, while shares rose in India, with the SENSEX up 0.22 percent at 59,462.78, gaining 1.84 percent from a week earlier.
Additional reporting by staff writer, with CNA
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