Asian stock markets on Friday mostly declined ahead of US jobs data that might reinforce US Federal Reserve plans for bigger interest rate hikes to cool surging inflation.
Shanghai advanced, while Taipei, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul retreated.
Investors were looking ahead to US data on last month’s hiring to see how the economy was responding to four earlier hikes to cool inflation that is at a four-decade high.
Photo: EPA-EFE
A strong reading would give ammunition to Fed officials who say higher interest rates are needed to slow economic activity and reduce upward pressure on consumer prices.
If more than 300,000 jobs were added, it “could likely reinforce further lean towards” a rate hike as big as 0.75 percentage points at this month’s Fed meeting, Yeap Jun Rong (葉俊榮) of IG said in a report. That would be three times the Fed’s usual margin of change.
The TAIEX on Friday fell 128.82 points, or 0.87 percent, closing at the day’s low of 14,673.04 after reaching a high of 14,817.40. Turnover totaled NT$231.11 billion (US$7.56 billion).
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.04 percent to 27,650.84 points, falling 3.46 percent for the week, while the broader TOPIX fell 0.27 percent, recording a 2.5 percent decline for the week.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index sank 0.74 percent to 19,452.09, bringing its weekly loss to 3.56 percent.
The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.05 percent to 3,186.48 points against a weekly loss of 1.54 percent.
China on Thursday ordered most residents of Chengdu, a western city of 21 million people, to stay home following a COVID-19 outbreak.
The area is recovering from power rationing after a drought depleted reservoirs for hydroelectric dams, but economists said earlier that the effect on the national economy should be limited because the region’s industrial output is a small part of China’s total.
South Korea’s KOSPI fell 0.26 percent to 59,032.82 points, while recording a 2.89 percent weekly loss.
Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.25 percent to 6,828.7 points, recording a 3.88 percent decline for the week, while India’s SENSEX rose 0.06 percent to 58,803.33 points, but was down 0.05 percent for the week.
Additional reporting by staff writer, with CNA
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