Asian Stocks Go to Best Week in Two Months; dollar heavy
TOKYO:
Asian stock markets were on track for their best week in months and the dollar held back from recent record highs after the European Central Bank (ECB) raised interest rates for the first time in more than a decade and bets on the size of US rate hikes eased. .
Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.24% on Friday and was on course to make a profit for the seventh day in a row. It is likely to be the index’s best week since March.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside of Japan fell 0.03 percent, but the index is still at its best week in about two months.
The euro traded at $1,019 and was on course for the biggest weekly gain against the dollar since late May, after plunging below parity last week.
The ECB raised interest rates by more than expected 50 basis points to zero percent overnight, the first hike in 11 years and an end to a policy of negative interest rates in place since 2014.
“While the ECB would never move more than 50 bps – as we have seen from many other central banks – the 50 bps surge came as a surprise to many,” Susan Kilsby, an economist at ANZ, said in a note. . “But the rapid tightening of rates has now become the norm.”
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.14 percent, marking the gains made the previous day after Chinese cybersecurity regulator Didi Global Inc. fined $1.2 billion. may have ended the regulatory crackdown and paved a path for the ride-hailing giant to join the list in Hong Kong. kong.
Tech companies are likely to weigh on US stocks today, with Nasdaq futures falling 0.68 percent after Snap Inc’s poor earnings release sounded the alarm bells among investors.
Snap’s accompanying warning about the effect of an economic slowdown on Internet companies caused the stock price to fall nearly 27 percent in after-hours trading. Twitter Inc will announce its earnings later today.
Leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin fell 0.48 percent to $23,017.15 on Friday, but is up more than 10 percent this week, which would be its best result since March.
Oil prices rose Friday and looked poised for their first weekly rise in more than a month. Brent oil futures were up 1.53 percent to $105.45 a barrel, and US WTI crude oil futures were up 1.45 percent to $97.75.
The US Federal Reserve is meeting next week to set interest rates and expectations of a 100 bp increase have faded in favor of pricing for a 75 bp move.
