BANGKOK (AP) — Stocks were trading mixed in Asia on Monday after Wall Street benchmarks closed higher on Friday, capping a third week of gains in the past four.
Tokyo and Shanghai rose while Hong Kong, Seoul and Sydney fell. Taiwan’s benchmark index jumped 3.8%.
Attention turned to Wednesday’s decision by the Federal Reserve on interest rates. A report on Friday showed US inflation continuing to ease, raising hopes for a smaller and less painful rise than last year’s aggressive increases. The Fed’s preferred measure, which excludes food and energy costs, was 4.4% higher in December than a year earlier. That was down from inflation of 4.7% in November.
Reports that holiday travel during last week’s Lunar New Year festivities had nearly returned to normal have raised expectations that China’s economy could pick up momentum faster than expected after easing pandemic restrictions. at the end of last year.
In the first trading session after a week-long break, the Shanghai Composite CN:SHCOMP
gained 0.1% to 3,269.32. However, Hang Seng HK:HSI from Hong Kong
lost 2.8% on the sell-off in tech stocks. The e-commerce giant Alibaba BABA
Hong Kong: 9988
sank 7.1% following reports that it was building a facility in Singapore that some say could become its global headquarters.
Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post reported that the company denied planning such a change, saying the new Singapore campus will house regional operations with partners like Lazada. Alibaba is headquartered in the city of Hangzhou in eastern China.
Taiwan’s benchmark was lifted by gains in TSMC TW: 2330,
the world’s largest computer chip maker, which jumped 8%.
Tokyo Nikkei 225 JP: NIK
rose 0.1% to 27,433.40. Kospi KR: 180721 from South Korea
lost 1.3% to 2,450.65 and the S&P/ASX 200 AU:XJO
in Sydney fell 0.2% to 7,481.70. Sensex IN:1 from India
was unchanged and Bangkok’s SET TH:SET
lower by less than 0.1%.
Shares of some Adani Group companies have recovered some lost ground from recent massive losses after US short-selling firm Hindenburg Research released a report alleging major problems at India’s second-largest conglomerate, which owns holdings in energy, data communications, construction and other major industries.
Its flagship product, Adani Enterprises IN:512599,
gained 5.4% and Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd. IN: 532921
added 2.1%. But shares of other Adani-listed companies fell 5% to 20%.
The Adani Group said it was considering legal action against Hindenburg over its allegations of stock market manipulation and accounting fraud.
Read: Adani’s actions mixed after 413-page response to Hindenburg
Friday, the S&P 500 SPX
rose 0.2% to 4,070.56. It rallied through January on the growing belief that inflation is steadily falling, which will hopefully relieve pressure on the economy and markets.
The Dow DJIA
rose 0.1%, to 33,978.08, and the Nasdaq COMP
gained 0.9% to 11,621.71.
So far, the job market has remained remarkably resilient despite the general slowdown in the economy. Almost all of the high-profile layoff announcements have been in the tech sector, which raced to expand after the pandemic sent demand for technology soaring.
The mixed earnings results led to wild swings in the markets.
Friday’s reports also showed Americans’ income growth slowed in December, while consumer spending fell a bit more sharply than expected.
Economists said Friday’s data would likely keep the Fed on track to raise its main benchmark rate by 0.25 percentage points on Wednesday, down from its 0.50 point increase last month and four consecutive increases of 0.75 points previously.
The 10-Year Treasury Yield BX:TMUBMUSD10Y,
which sets rates for mortgages and other large loans, held at 3.50% on Monday. The two-year yield, which moves more in line with expectations for Fed actions, held steady at 4.19%.
In other exchanges on Monday, US benchmark crude CL
lost 63 cents to $79.20 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost $1.33 to $79.68 a barrel on Friday.
Crude Brent BRN00,
the international price benchmark, fell 40 cents to $86.00 a barrel.
The DXY Dollar
slipped to 129.54 Japanese yen from 129.80 yen. The euro EURUSD
fell from $1.0865 to $1.0866.