Asian shares on Friday were mostly higher after Wall Street benchmarks fell on worries that the US Federal Reserve would keep raising interest rates.
Markets rose in Taiwan, Australia, China, Japan and South Korea China in muted trading.
Hot readings on the US jobs market on Thursday got traders thinking the Fed would need to keep inflicting pain on the economy to fight surging prices.
Photo: AFP
Inflation has been easing from a peak of 9.1 percent in June to 7.1 percent in November, and investors have been hoping for signs that could prompt the Fed to ease up on applying the brakes to the economy with high interest rates.
“Overall risk sentiments could lean more toward a wait-and-see in the lead-up to the US job report later, lacking a clear conviction in market direction from Wall Street over the past few days,” IG market strategist Yeap Jun Rong (葉俊榮) said in a report.
In Taipei, the TAIEX on Friday rose 72.29 points, or 0.51 percent, to close at 14,373.34. Turnover was NT$153.86 billion (US$5.01 billion). It was up 1.67 percent for the week.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.59 percent to finish at 25,973.85, but fell 0.46 percent for the week.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.65 percent to 7,109.6, gaining 1.01 percent, while South Korea’s KOSPI rose 1.12 percent to 2,289.78, up 2.4 percent weekly.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index erased earlier gains, falling 0.29 percent to 20,991.64, but gained 6.12 percent for the week. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.08 percent to 3,157.64, rising 2.21 percent for the week.
Analysts said they expect economic growth in Asia to slow this year, although China’s emergence from almost three years of strict COVID-19 lockdowns and other containment measures contributed to a sense of optimism in Asia.
There is hope that the easing of restrictions would lead to a boom in countries’ tourism industries, and Hong Kong would be a major beneficiary, with the border opening at the weekend.
Suktae Oh, an analyst at Societe Generale, said he expects the Bank of Korea to raise rates by 25 percentage points to 3.5 percent at its policy meeting this week.
“The data continue to indicate weak economic activity and peaking inflation. The concerns surrounding financial stability have persisted due to high corporate leverage and housing market weakness, which would be bearish for growth outlook,” he said.
Additional reporting by staff writer, with CNA and AFP
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
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
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
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