Beijing, Nov 12 (BNA): Most stocks rose in Asia on Friday after Wall Street indexes managed to close higher. Stocks advanced in most major markets in early trade, AP reports.
Although the Chinese economy has been slowing after recovering from the pandemic downturn, the record $139.1 billion spent by Chinese shoppers during the annual November 11 Shopping Extravaganza on Singles’ Day on November 11 suggests the potential for flexible retail demand.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1% to 25,484.50 while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.1% to 3,537.30.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 climbed 1.2% to 29631.86, while South Korea’s Kospi rose 1% to 2,954.57. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1% to 7,454.50.
The latest round of strong corporate earnings ends mostly after helping the broader market climb for weeks and hit a string of records. However, inflation fears have been worrying investors throughout the week.
Oanda’s Craig Erlam said in a report that the recent data paint “a picture of an economy moving fast with broad-based price pressures”.
“The Fed may eventually prove correct in its judgment that pressures will naturally ease over time because they are largely driven by temporary factors,” he said. But how long can they stand idly by and watch inflation dramatically exceed their target? Are they really that confident in their assessment? The pressure is increasing.”
The S&P 500 benchmark is on track for its first weekly loss in six weeks. On Thursday, it rose 0.1 percent to 4,629.27 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4% to 3591.23, largely due to a sharp decline in entertainment company Walt Disney Co, which fell 7.1% after reporting slower gains for subscribers to its broadcast channel and weak financial results for its fiscal fourth quarter.
The Nasdaq rose 0.5% to 15,704.28.
Technology stocks did most of the heavy lifting for the S&P 500 and chipmakers were particularly strong. Nvidia shares rose 3.2 percent and Qualcomm 2.9 percent. Banks also made solid gains. Citigroup stock is up 1%.
Tapestry, owner of Coach and Kate Spade, jumped 8.4 percent after reporting strong financial results for the first quarter of the fiscal year.
All major indicators fell on Wednesday after the Labor Department reported that consumer prices rose more than expected in October. This followed data that showed on Tuesday that inflation at the wholesale level also rose in October.
Companies warn that they are under pressure from rising raw material costs and supply chain problems. Consumers are already facing higher costs for basic items such as food, rent, cars and heating oil. Analysts are concerned that they may cut spending on discretionary items to focus on fundamentals, which could hamper the broader economic recovery.
Rising inflation is raising expectations that the Federal Reserve and other central banks will raise the short-term interest rates that have been posted during the pandemic to encourage lending and spending. The Fed has already begun to scale back its bond purchases to keep long-term interest rates low.
In other trading, benchmark US crude oil lost 21 cents to $81.38 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose 25 cents to $81.59 a barrel on Thursday.
Brent crude, the basis for international pricing, lost 23 cents to $82.64 a barrel.
The dollar rose to 114.16 yen from 114.07 yen. The euro fell to 1.1448 dollars from 1.1451 dollars.
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