SINGAPORE : Asian stocks rallied on Friday as strong corporate earnings helped lift sentiment even as worries over economic weakness lingered, while investors were also waiting on a policy decision from the Bank of Japan.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.94 per cent higher but remained on course to end the month 1.4 per cent lower. Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.51 per cent while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index gained 0.33 per cent.
U.S. stocks closed sharply higher on Thursday thanks to upbeat results from bellwether tech firms, with Meta Platforms Inc, Microsoft Corp and Alphabet Inc soaring after reporting results.
China shares eased, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was 0.5 per cent higher. Geopolitical tensions along with worries over the global economic outlook have crimped investor sentiment in recent weeks.
Data overnight showed the U.S. economy slowed more than expected in the first quarter, even as price growth came in hotter than economists had projected.
Taylor Nugent, an economist at National Australia Bank, said the data showed “an unhappy combination” of softer-than-expected growth and stronger-than-expected prices increases in first quarter.
The core PCE data, one of the measures of inflation tracked by the Federal Reserve, caught markets’ attention, Nugent said.
The core PCE price index jumped at a 4.9 per cent rate after advancing at a 4.4 per cent pace in the prior quarter.
Source: Reuters
