Investing.com - Supported by some decent data out of the U.S., Asian stocks followed their U.S. counterparts higher Friday in an effort to erase some of Thursday’s steep losses.
In Asian trading Friday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 3.04%, an impressive gain to be sure, but only enough to wipe out barely more than half of Thursday’s loss.
Interestingly, the rally in Japanese stocks came even as USD/JPY traded modestly higher and amid mounting concerns among traders that the Bank of Japan is not being effective enough in reinvigorating the world’s third-largest economy.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 0.99% while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.21%, but there was still something of a risk-off tenor to Friday’s Asian session as low-beta, defensive sectors such as utilities and consumer staples were seen leading the way.
The gains for the Hang Seng are not quite enough to get the index out of bear market territory. Entering today’s session, the index was down 21% from its 2013 peak. The definition of a bear market to many technical analysts is a peak-to-trough decline of at least 20%.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 advanced 1.7% due to strength in financial services shares. Westpac Banking added 2% while National Australia Bank jumped 3.3%. Australian stocks entered a correction, or a 10% peak-to-trough decline, earlier this week.
New Zealand’s NZSE 50 rose 0.50% a day after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand kept rates unchanged at 2.5%.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.21% while Singapore’s Straits Index jumped 0.88%. S&P 500 futures inched lower by 0.04% a day after the benchmark U.S. index surged 1.48%.
In Asian trading Friday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 3.04%, an impressive gain to be sure, but only enough to wipe out barely more than half of Thursday’s loss.
Interestingly, the rally in Japanese stocks came even as USD/JPY traded modestly higher and amid mounting concerns among traders that the Bank of Japan is not being effective enough in reinvigorating the world’s third-largest economy.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 0.99% while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.21%, but there was still something of a risk-off tenor to Friday’s Asian session as low-beta, defensive sectors such as utilities and consumer staples were seen leading the way.
The gains for the Hang Seng are not quite enough to get the index out of bear market territory. Entering today’s session, the index was down 21% from its 2013 peak. The definition of a bear market to many technical analysts is a peak-to-trough decline of at least 20%.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 advanced 1.7% due to strength in financial services shares. Westpac Banking added 2% while National Australia Bank jumped 3.3%. Australian stocks entered a correction, or a 10% peak-to-trough decline, earlier this week.
New Zealand’s NZSE 50 rose 0.50% a day after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand kept rates unchanged at 2.5%.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.21% while Singapore’s Straits Index jumped 0.88%. S&P 500 futures inched lower by 0.04% a day after the benchmark U.S. index surged 1.48%.