The Hang Seng climbed 233 points, or 0.9%, to close at 26,855 on Tuesday, reversing early losses to hit a two-week high on broad-based gains. The index jumped 7% in September, its fifth straight monthly advance, and posted a third quarterly gain of 11.6%, fueled by AI optimism, strong inflows, and bets of fresh policy support from Beijing ahead of the October plenum. Still, upside was capped by U.S. political uncertainty, with Vice President Vance warning the government was "headed to a shutdown" amid stalled budget talks. Profit-taking also weighed as traders braced for China's week-long...
Hong Kong stocks rose 191 points or 0.8% to 25,183 on Friday morning trade, rising for the first session in four after Wall Street's S&P 500 and Dow Jones closed at record highs overnight on stronger-than-expected U.S. Q2 GDP growth. Gains were broad-based, led by consumer, financial, and property shares. Trip.com climbed 3.8% after logging stronger revenues, while Ping An Insurance jumped 2.7% on plans to buy more equities, following increased allocations to high-dividend Hong Kong-listed banks earlier this year. Pharma stocks also outperformed, with Wuxi Biologics up 5.2%, followed...
Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed on Friday, breaking ranks from Wall Street gains as investors also assess a slate of economic data in the region. Japan's Nikkei 225 slid 0.31%, while the Topix lost 0.39% after core consumer prices in Tokyo rose at a slower pace in August. The Tokyo core CPI, which strips out fresh food but includes energy, climbed 2.5% from a year earlier, matching Reuters' economists' forecasts, and easing from July's 2.9% increase. The figure however remained above the Bank of Japan's 2% target. Japan's unemployment rate also eased to 2.3% in July, down from 2.5% the...
Japanese stocks may trade rangebound as uncertainty over the U.S. tariff impact on earnings continues. Nikkei futures are flat at 42920 on the SGX. USD/JPY is at 146.87, compared with 147.17 as of Thursday's Tokyo stock market close. Investors are focusing on Japanese economic data, including industrial production due later, as well as domestic politics. Consumer prices, excluding volatile fresh food, rose 2.5% from a year earlier for August in Tokyo, matching a 2.5% rise expected, government data showed earlier Friday. The Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.7% to 42828.79 on Thursday....
The S&P 500 notched a record high close on Thursday after Nvidia's quarterly report fell short of investors' high expectations but confirmed that spending related to artificial intelligence infrastructure remains strong. Shares of Nvidia dipped as much as 2.9% after Sino-U.S. trade uncertainties prompted the leading AI chip designer to exclude potential China sales from its quarterly forecast late on Wednesday. Investors viewed Nvidia's report, including a 56% surge in quarterly revenue, as confirmation that demand related to AI technology remains strong, supporting a rally in...
European stocks closed mixed on Thursday as markets assessed key earnings results for the US tech sector and the outlook for global rates. The Eurozone's STOXX 50 inched above the flatline to close at 5,393 and the pan-European STOXX 600 dropped 0.2% to 554. Nvidia released earnings and revenues figures that were slightly ahead of expectations, but noted that demand in the sector is slowing to consolidate concerns that the AI-led rally in global tech stocks is unsustainable. European stocks with exposure to US chips manufacturers and AI companies were mixed, with ASML losing 1% while...