A decline in the dollar and indications of economic stabilization in China helped Asian stocks rise.
Australia’s and Hong Kong’s stocks rose after statistics revealed that China’s retail sales growth was the largest in eight months. Because of the yen’s depreciation, Japanese benchmarks increased by almost 0.8%. US contracts declined.
A five-day increase that was aided by remarks made by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that the central bank would not be in a rush to lower interest rates was stopped by a dollar gauge. US two-year yields did not change much.
“We think a December rate cut is in the cards and we think there will be at least two cuts next year,” Salman Niaz, head of global fixed income for AC ex-Japan at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said on Bloomberg Television.
The activity on Friday provides developing market assets with a much-needed break after they were negatively impacted for the majority of the week by changes in interest-rate projections and developments around US President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet choices. Despite a separate index of emerging countries’ currencies nearly wiping out its gains for the year, a measure of emerging markets shares is still headed for its worst week since June 2022.
South Korean stocks dropped on Friday as a result of battery manufacturers’ concerns that Donald Trump would remove a tax incentive for buying electric cars. Since the US Treasury placed the nation on its “monitoring list” for foreign exchange activities, the won has come under scrutiny.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is expected to publish significant results later on Friday, following the mild growth in revenue reported by JD.com Inc., another Chinese consumer bellwether.
The gross domestic product for Malaysia and Hong Kong is part of the data set that will be released in the area. In India, markets are closed.
A stronger currency and worries that the global market may turn to a glut next year caused oil to head for a weekly decline in commodities. Gold stayed close to its two-month low.
Resilient Economy
Producer prices in the US surpassed consensus estimates, according to data released earlier Thursday. Claims for unemployment fell to their lowest level since May, falling short of forecasts.
In remarks this week, a number of policymakers have called for caution when considering additional rate decreases due to the robust economy, persistent inflation worries, and general uncertainty. Their remarks coincide with the equity market’s signals of exhaustion after a post-election spike that prompted demands for a pause, with several metrics pointing to “stretched” trader optimism.
The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.7% and the S&P 500 fell 0.6% in the US. As Reuters reported that US President-elect Trump intends to withdraw the $7,500 consumer tax credit for electric vehicle purchases, automakers such as Tesla Inc. and Rivian Automotive Inc. saw a decline. A profit beat was jumped on by Walt Disney Co.
