TOKYO: Asian stocks rose on Friday amid mixed cues for investors such as rising energy prices and easing of COVID-19 restrictions in China.
Business was closed in China for the Dragon Boat Festival, a national holiday. Benchmarks in the rest of the sector moved higher, fueled by an overnight rally on Wall Street.
Market players are closely watching US non-farm employment data as well as several economic data later in the day Japan next week. OPEC The meeting, in which oil-producing countries decided to boost some production, failed to stabilize energy prices.
Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, said: “The outcome of the OPEC meeting would be an understatement to disappointing expectations.”
Japan and the US signed an amendment to the “Beef Safeguard” mechanism under the US-Japan trade agreement that would help US beef producers meet Japan’s growing demand for high-quality beef. Both sides said the deal would reduce the chances of Japan imposing safeguard duty on American beef. This happened in early 2021.
“The United States and Japan are demonstrating our commitment to working together on shared priorities to achieve tangible, economically meaningful results for our people,” the US trade representative said. Catherine Tai,
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 1.1% to 27,712.43 in morning trade. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.7% to 7,226.70, while South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.4% to 2,668.95.
Shares on Wall Street overcame a volatile start to close higher on Thursday, as major indices made up for losses earlier in the holiday-shortened week.
The S&P 500 rose 1.8% to 4,176.82 with more than 85% of the shares in the benchmark index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.3% to 33,248.28, while the Nasdaq climbed 2.7% to 12,316.90.
Technology stocks, whose higher prices push the broader market higher or lower harder, accounted for a large portion of Thursday’s rally. Chipmaker Nvidia jumped 6.9% and software maker Adobe jumped 5.5%.
Communications stocks, companies relying on direct consumer spending and some large industrial firms gained ground. Facebook parent meta platform rose 5.4%, Expedia Group 6.3% and Boeing 7.5%.
Shares of smaller companies rose, indicating confidence in economic growth. The Russell 2000 rose 2.3% to 1,897.67.
Business has been choppy in recent days as investors remain concerned about inflation and interest rate hikes that the Federal Reserve is using to fight it. Thursday’s market rally may be partly driven, according to a report showing private sector recruitment falling far below economists’ forecasts.
“The private payroll report was very weak,” said Tom Hainlin, national investment strategist at US Bank Wealth Management. “It’s probably one of those environments where people are looking for vulnerable data that gives them some hope that irrigated Will stop in September (rate hike).
Rising energy prices are feeding inflation, which is already at its highest level in four decades. US petrol prices hit another record high on Thursday, with the average price at the pump at $4.71 a gallon, according to the Motoring Club Federation AAA.
Investors focus on the balance between inflation, rising interest rates and economic growth. Several economic reports on Wednesday bolstered hopes for the Fed to aggressively raise interest rates. Wall Street is concerned that the Fed could greatly slow economic growth and potentially send the economy into recession.
But on Thursday, payroll processor ADP reported that hiring by private US companies rose just 128,000 in May. According to FactSet, economists are hired far less than 302,000.
Wall Street will get another glimpse into the health of the broader US economy on Friday when the Labor Department releases its employment report for May. The jobs market was initially slow to recover from the effects of the virus pandemic, but has made a strong comeback with low unemployment and plentiful job postings.
Meanwhile high inflation is eating into corporate profits, while the war in Ukraine and COVID-19 sanctions in China have also weighed on the markets.
Bond yields remained relatively stable. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which helps determine interest rates on mortgages and other loans, fell to 2.91% from 2.93% late Wednesday.
Benchmark US crude fell 23 cents to $116.64 a barrel in energy trading. International benchmark Brent crude fell 12 cents to $117.49 a barrel.
In currency trading, the US dollar fell from 129.87 yen to 129.82 Japanese yen. Euro price is $1.0765, higher than $1.0752.
Business was closed in China for the Dragon Boat Festival, a national holiday. Benchmarks in the rest of the sector moved higher, fueled by an overnight rally on Wall Street.
Market players are closely watching US non-farm employment data as well as several economic data later in the day Japan next week. OPEC The meeting, in which oil-producing countries decided to boost some production, failed to stabilize energy prices.
Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, said: “The outcome of the OPEC meeting would be an understatement to disappointing expectations.”
Japan and the US signed an amendment to the “Beef Safeguard” mechanism under the US-Japan trade agreement that would help US beef producers meet Japan’s growing demand for high-quality beef. Both sides said the deal would reduce the chances of Japan imposing safeguard duty on American beef. This happened in early 2021.
“The United States and Japan are demonstrating our commitment to working together on shared priorities to achieve tangible, economically meaningful results for our people,” the US trade representative said. Catherine Tai,
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 1.1% to 27,712.43 in morning trade. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.7% to 7,226.70, while South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.4% to 2,668.95.
Shares on Wall Street overcame a volatile start to close higher on Thursday, as major indices made up for losses earlier in the holiday-shortened week.
The S&P 500 rose 1.8% to 4,176.82 with more than 85% of the shares in the benchmark index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.3% to 33,248.28, while the Nasdaq climbed 2.7% to 12,316.90.
Technology stocks, whose higher prices push the broader market higher or lower harder, accounted for a large portion of Thursday’s rally. Chipmaker Nvidia jumped 6.9% and software maker Adobe jumped 5.5%.
Communications stocks, companies relying on direct consumer spending and some large industrial firms gained ground. Facebook parent meta platform rose 5.4%, Expedia Group 6.3% and Boeing 7.5%.
Shares of smaller companies rose, indicating confidence in economic growth. The Russell 2000 rose 2.3% to 1,897.67.
Business has been choppy in recent days as investors remain concerned about inflation and interest rate hikes that the Federal Reserve is using to fight it. Thursday’s market rally may be partly driven, according to a report showing private sector recruitment falling far below economists’ forecasts.
“The private payroll report was very weak,” said Tom Hainlin, national investment strategist at US Bank Wealth Management. “It’s probably one of those environments where people are looking for vulnerable data that gives them some hope that irrigated Will stop in September (rate hike).
Rising energy prices are feeding inflation, which is already at its highest level in four decades. US petrol prices hit another record high on Thursday, with the average price at the pump at $4.71 a gallon, according to the Motoring Club Federation AAA.
Investors focus on the balance between inflation, rising interest rates and economic growth. Several economic reports on Wednesday bolstered hopes for the Fed to aggressively raise interest rates. Wall Street is concerned that the Fed could greatly slow economic growth and potentially send the economy into recession.
But on Thursday, payroll processor ADP reported that hiring by private US companies rose just 128,000 in May. According to FactSet, economists are hired far less than 302,000.
Wall Street will get another glimpse into the health of the broader US economy on Friday when the Labor Department releases its employment report for May. The jobs market was initially slow to recover from the effects of the virus pandemic, but has made a strong comeback with low unemployment and plentiful job postings.
Meanwhile high inflation is eating into corporate profits, while the war in Ukraine and COVID-19 sanctions in China have also weighed on the markets.
Bond yields remained relatively stable. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which helps determine interest rates on mortgages and other loans, fell to 2.91% from 2.93% late Wednesday.
Benchmark US crude fell 23 cents to $116.64 a barrel in energy trading. International benchmark Brent crude fell 12 cents to $117.49 a barrel.
In currency trading, the US dollar fell from 129.87 yen to 129.82 Japanese yen. Euro price is $1.0765, higher than $1.0752.