Tokyo, May 27 (BNA): Asian stocks rose on Friday as investors cheered a solid batch of profits from retail traders that pushed US stocks higher.
Benchmarks were rising in early trading across the region, including Japan, China, Australia and South Korea, according to the Associated Press.
“Improving risk sentiment on Wall Street, along with outperforming earnings from Alibaba and Baidu, may help fuel some upside for the Asia region in today’s session,” said Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist at IG in Singapore.
Shares of Alibaba and Baidu rose after they reported better-than-expected results, easing some concerns about the negative impact of restrictions to curb COVID-19 infections. Both stocks continued to rise in early trading.
A gauge of Japan’s economic trajectory will be on investors’ minds as April’s manufacturing, housing and employment data are due next week.
Some analysts expect the numbers to be bleak due to a slowdown in exports to China during that period.
But there is some optimism in the air as well, with Tokyo easing restrictions on tourists and increasing the daily limit from 10,000 to 20,000 people starting June 1.
The Japanese government, led by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, is also ready to move forward with parliamentary discussions with a supplementary budget, a potential plus for investors.
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