Asian Stocks Rise, Track Wall Street’s Rise

Beijing – Asian stocks rose on Friday, trailing gains on Wall Street after reports suggesting the economy and corporate earnings may be doing better than feared.

Tokyo data showed the core consumer price index rose 4.3%, slightly above expectations and above the Bank of Japan’s target of 2%.

IG’s market analyst Yeap Jun Rong said in a comment, “While this is about to challenge the central bank’s final policy shift, next month’s government energy subsidies will be used to make immediate changes. It could be pushed back,” he said.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose nearly 0.1% to close at 27,382.56. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.3% to 7,493.80. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.6% to 2,484.02. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.3% to 22,634.93.

Markets in Shanghai remained closed due to the Chinese New Year holidays.

Stocks rose to their highest level in almost eight weeks on Wall Street after the Department of Commerce reported that: US economy expands at 2.9% Despite rising interest rates and widespread fears of a looming recession, we ended 2022 with momentum. This beat the economist’s forecast of 2.3% expansion.

The S&P 500 rose 1.1% to 4,060.43, its highest since December 2nd. The Dow rose 0.6% to 33,949.41 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.8% to 11,512.41.

More swings are likely ahead as Wall Street digests the torrent of earnings and economic reports. The market has been rocking up and down lately. Concerns over deep recession The slump in earnings is a battle against hopes that the economy will endure a soft landing and that the Federal Reserve may ease interest rates.

Other reports on Thursday said orders for long-lasting goods from factories strengthened more than expected in December, Fewer workers applied for unemployment insurance Better than expected last week.

Strong data suggests the economy can withstand at least one rate hike expected next week, in addition to the Fed’s sharp rate hikes last year, without slipping into a deep recession. Higher interest rates deliberately slow the economy by making it more expensive to borrow to buy a house, car, or other thing on credit.It also lowers the price of stocks and other investments. .

But a stronger-than-expected economy, especially in the job market, could prompt the Fed to hold rates on hold longer to ensure that inflation is indeed crushed.

On the earnings front, reports from several large tech-minded companies helped build optimism. microsoft It was widely seen as discouraging.

Tesla Shares soared 11% after the electric car maker reported earnings in its most recent quarter that beat analyst expectations. Seagate Technology rose 10.9% after reporting better-than-expected earnings and profits.

Steel maker Nucor was also among the top S&P 500 stocks, beating Wall Street earnings and earnings forecasts, up 8.4%.

Chevron climbed 4.9% after raising its dividend and approving a program to buy back up to $75 billion of its shares. Both moves brought cash directly into shareholders’ pockets and drew criticism from Washington. White House spokesman Abdullah Hassan suggested instead that oil companies “use record profits to increase supply.”

In energy trading, US benchmark crude rose 33 cents to $81.34 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. He was $81.01 on Thursday, down 14 cents.

Brent crude, the international price benchmark, rose 35 cents to $87.82 a barrel in London.

In currency trading, the US dollar fell slightly from 130.23 yen to 130.18 yen. The euro fell from $1.0890 to $1.0873.

___

Yuri Kageyama’s Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama