Tokyo, Oct. 14 (BNA): Asian stocks were mostly higher on Thursday, tracking an overnight rally on Wall Street as investors sought bargains, including technology shares.
Standards rose in Tokyo, Seoul and Sydney. Markets in Hong Kong are closed for a holiday.
The Shanghai Composite was little changed, at 3,561.91, after the government reported a rise in producer price inflation, which rose to a record 10.7% from a year earlier in September from 9.5% in August.
Much of the increase was due to higher coal prices, which appear to have not fueled consumer prices even as parts of the country grapple with energy shortages, Capital Economics said in a report. Consumer price inflation fell to 0.7% from 0.8% in August, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
Also Thursday, the Monetary Authority of Singapore raised the benchmark interest rate, citing price pressures. The move coincided with allowing the Singapore dollar to rise slightly against the US dollar, widening the trading range from 0%, and coincided with news that the city-state’s economy grew at an annualized pace of 6.5% in July-September.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.4% in afternoon trading to 2,8531.45 as the new Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, dissolved parliament ahead of the October 31 general election. In office for about a week, Kishida has already flipped major politics. But the divided opposition means the ruling Liberal Democratic Party may still have an advantage, despite growing public disillusionment with the stagnant economy and government actions over the coronavirus.
South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1.1% to 2,975.82. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.5% to 7,311.70. Trading in Hong Kong is closed due to a holiday.
“Asian stocks rose on Thursday, after a positive delivery from Wall Street as the technology and growth sectors outperformed,” said Anderson Alves of ActivTrades.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% to 4,363.80. The Dow ended flat, slipping 0.53 points to 3,4377.81. The Nasdaq tech index rose 0.7% to 14,571.64. Small-cap stocks also rose. The Russell 2000 Index rose 0.3% to 2241.97.
Investors got more insight into the Fed’s next policy moves after the central bank released the minutes of last month’s policy makers’ meeting.
Federal Reserve officials agreed at their last meeting that if the economy continues to improve, they can start reducing their monthly bond purchases as soon as next month and end them by mid-2022.
Investors took the latest inflation update step by step. Consumer prices rose 5.4% in September from a year earlier, matching the highest rate since 2008. That was slightly higher than economists had expected. Many companies are dealing with disruptions and delays in the supply chain amid rising demand for goods, and warn that this will increase costs and hamper their financial results.
“There is a lot of tension and concern about inflation right now,” said Christina Huber, chief global market strategist at Invesco. “We are going to see a lot of ups and downs in leadership. This is just part of the transition period we are going through.”
With companies raising prices to offset higher costs for freight and raw materials, analysts worry that higher prices could stall consumer spending, the main driver of economic growth. The latest report from the Labor Department showed that costs for new cars, food, gas and restaurant meals all jumped in September.
Investors will get more data on US consumer spending on Friday when the Commerce Department releases retail sales for September.
In energy trading, benchmark US crude rose 54 cents to $80.98 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost 20 cents to $80.44 on Wednesday. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 57 cents to $83.75 a barrel.
In currency trading, the US dollar rose to 113.58 yen from 113.23 yen. The euro traded at $1.1590, slightly down from $1.1593.
RAE