Investing.com - Most Asian equities are trading to the upside in Friday’s session, a day after U.S. stocks endured another downbeat performance on the back of some concerning economic data points.
In Asian trading Friday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.35% as USD/JPY rose modestly ahead of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s meeting with President Obama later today.
U.S. stocks declined Thursday on growth concerns and data points. Initial claims for jobless benefits jumped by 20,000 to 362,000 last week, according to the Labor Department. The less volatile four-week moving average rose by 8,000 to 360,750.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.27% while the Shanghai Composite inched lower by 0.02%. On Thursday, equity strategists at JPMorgan issued a report saying emerging markets equities are due for a significant correction, citing weakening fundamentals and technicals.
Speculation that China may move to tighter monetary policy in effort to cool a hot real estate market have some investors and traders skittish about the near-term outlook for the country’s stocks. Earlier this week, Bank of America extolled a bullish outlook on the BRIC nations, including China.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4%, getting a lift from some health care and telecommunications names along the way, but mining giants such as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto continue to be laggards. On Thursday, Australian equities experienced their worst one-day decline in nine months.
New Zealand’s NZSE 50 jumped 1.05% a day after a sliding to a one-month low. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.60%.
Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.15% after the city-state’s fourth-quarter GDP reading showed growth of 3.3%. Most economists expected Singapore’s fourth-quarter GDP growth to come between 1.8% and 2%. Market participants widely expect Singapore to post 2013 GDP growth of 3%.
S&P 500 futures rose 0.26%.
In Asian trading Friday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.35% as USD/JPY rose modestly ahead of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s meeting with President Obama later today.
U.S. stocks declined Thursday on growth concerns and data points. Initial claims for jobless benefits jumped by 20,000 to 362,000 last week, according to the Labor Department. The less volatile four-week moving average rose by 8,000 to 360,750.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.27% while the Shanghai Composite inched lower by 0.02%. On Thursday, equity strategists at JPMorgan issued a report saying emerging markets equities are due for a significant correction, citing weakening fundamentals and technicals.
Speculation that China may move to tighter monetary policy in effort to cool a hot real estate market have some investors and traders skittish about the near-term outlook for the country’s stocks. Earlier this week, Bank of America extolled a bullish outlook on the BRIC nations, including China.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4%, getting a lift from some health care and telecommunications names along the way, but mining giants such as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto continue to be laggards. On Thursday, Australian equities experienced their worst one-day decline in nine months.
New Zealand’s NZSE 50 jumped 1.05% a day after a sliding to a one-month low. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.60%.
Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.15% after the city-state’s fourth-quarter GDP reading showed growth of 3.3%. Most economists expected Singapore’s fourth-quarter GDP growth to come between 1.8% and 2%. Market participants widely expect Singapore to post 2013 GDP growth of 3%.
S&P 500 futures rose 0.26%.