Asian stocks were mixed after falling last month
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BANGKOK, Apr 3 (Us): Stock markets were mixed. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.5% to 28,188.15, even after a quarterly survey by the Bank of Japan showed business sentiment among major Japanese manufacturers fell in the first quarter of this year.
The tankan’s main gauge showed positive sentiment falling to 1 from 7 in December, the worst quarterly result since December 2020, the Associated Press reported.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.4% to 20324.49, while the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.7% to 3296.42. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.6% to 7,223.00. Stocks rose in Taiwan but fell in Bangkok.
Surveys of purchasing managers in emerging Asian markets fell last month as export orders weakened, adding to signs of fragility in the global economy.
“With global growth continuing to weaken in the coming quarters, we expect industrial production in Asia to remain under pressure,” Shivan Tandon of Capital Economics said in a commentary.
On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 1.4% on Friday to 4,109.31, up 3.5% for the month, as technology stocks advanced. Friday’s gains came after a report showed that inflation slowed in February, although it was still high on a historical basis.
A slowdown in inflation may give the Federal Reserve more latitude to ease interest rates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.3% to 33274.15, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.7% to 12221.91. For the Nasdaq, big jumps in technology stocks led to gains of 16.8% for the quarter, their best level since the coronavirus-induced crash erupted in the spring of 2020.
Higher rates can undermine inflation but only by outright slowing down the entire economy, which increases the risk of a recession. They also lower the prices of stocks, bonds, and other investments.
Expectations of an easier Fed action have helped big tech stocks in particular because high-growth stocks are seen as some of the biggest beneficiaries of lower interest rates. That helped prop up the S&P 500, where Big Tech stocks play a big role because of their sheer volume. Apple, Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet all posted double-digit gains for the month of March.
Adding to the Fed’s challenges, the second and third largest US bank failures in history rocked markets after depositors scrambled to withdraw their money from Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. The jockeying has prompted investors to scrutinize banks globally in search of seemingly weak links.
Problems in the banking industry could also raise interest rates if they cause banks to cut back on lending, stifling employment and growth for the economy.
In other trading on Monday, the US dollar rose to 133.60 yen from 133.28 yen late on Friday. The euro fell to $1.0829 from $1.0844.
MI