China shares gain as Premier Li sees rebound signss, vows more measures

Investing.com - Shares in China gained on Friday after Premier Li Keqiang said there are signs of economic rebound on the horizon and said more forceful measures would be pursued to spur growth.

The Shanghai Composite rose 0.06% at the break after the remarks, and the Hang Seng index was up 0.52%.

Elsewhere, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.53% after Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said inflation expectations are on the rise led by higher incomes and jobs growth.

Earlier in Japan, the release of April CGPI showed a drop of 2.1% year-on-year, matching expectations and notching the first drop in 25 months since -0.5% in March 2013 as the base effect of the April 2014 sales tax hike fades.

Overnight, U.S. stocks moved broadly higher on Thursday amid a weaker dollar, as the S&P 500 Composite index reached an all-time closing high.

Boosted by strong gains in the Technology, Health Care and Consumer Goods sectors, the S&P 500 gained 22.62 or 1.08% to close at 2,121.10, slightly above its previous record of 2,117.69 reached in late-April. On a bullish day of trading, nine of 10 sectors closed in the green with only Energy stocks failing to move higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ Composite index, meanwhile, remained in near-record territory, erasing previous losses from earlier this week. The Dow soared 191.75 or 1.06% to 18,252.24, while the NASDAQ gained 69.11 or 1.39% to 5,050.80, amid a rally in biotech stocks.

Investors are focused on growing possibilities for a delayed interest-rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday that Producer Prices for total final demand in April fell 0.4%, significantly below estimates of a 0.1% -- the low end of analysts' forecasts.

On a year-over-year basis, Thursday's reading painted an even dire outlook as the index ticked down to a record low of minus 1.3%. In March, the index stood at negative 0.8% in comparison with the reading 12 months earlier.

A key reading of the Producer Price Index, the PPI-FD, which excludes food and energy prices, dipped 0.2% in April. Analysts expected the reading to remain flat on the low end of its forecasts. The PPI-FD is still up 0.8% on a year-over-year basis.

The moderate inflationary pressures, in combination with disappointing import and export data a day earlier will probably appease the doves on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC).

On Wednesday, the Labor Department said import prices slid 0.3% in April, following a 0.2% decline a month earlier. On a year-over-year basis, import prices have fallen by more than 10% after the 10th consecutive monthly decline.

Following the conclusion of its April meeting on April 29, the Fed reiterated that it would like to see inflation move toward its targeted goal of 2% before it raises interest rates for the first time since 2006.

Separately, the Labor Department said initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell by 1,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 264,000 for the week ending on May 9. The four-week moving average, a more accurate gauge of labor market conditions, dropped by 7,750 to 271,750 – the lowest level in more than 15 years.