SINGAPORE — Shares in the Asia-Pacific region jumped on Wednesday after a sharp jump in U.S. stocks overnight.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 2.33%, with Fast Retailing and Tokyo Electron up 1.75% and 4.98% respectively. The Topix index rose 1.92%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced 2.03% and the Hang Seng Tech Index rose 2.77%. Tencent jumped 2.52% and Meituan rose 3.65%.
A little bit of good news goes a long way in this market.
Tai Hui
Chief Global Market Strategist for APAC, JPMorgan Asset Management
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.98% and the Kosdaq rose 1.33%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.76%.
Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe said on Wednesday that inflation for the June quarter, to be published next week, would show a further increase and there should be a path back to 2% to 3% inflation.
Prices rose 5.1% in the March quarter. In his speech, Low also said that the neutral nominal rate is at least 2.5%, while current rates are 1.35%.
Markets in mainland China rose. The Shanghai Composite gained 0.71% and the Shenzhen Component rose 0.92%.
China kept its key one-year and five-year lending rates unchanged at 3.7 percent and 4.45 percent on Wednesday.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1.3 percent.
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U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday in the States after strong earnings reports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 754.44 points, or 2.43%, to 31,827.05. The S&P 500 jumped 2.76% to 3,936.69 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 3.11% to 11,713.15.
In addition to the positive lead from Wall Street, there were also reports that Russia and Ukraine are close to a deal that would end the grain export blockade and that Nord Stream 1 is likely to resume gas exports on schedule after maintenance ends.
“There is still a lot of uncertainty as to whether they will actually materialize, [but] a little bit of good news goes a long way in this market,” Tai Hui, chief global market strategist for Asia-Pacific at JPMorgan Asset Management, told CNBC in a phone call today.
That said, it’s likely to be a short-term market spike as uncertainty around the Fed and corporate earnings remains, he said.
In company news, Japanese automaker Toyota said its August production will be around 700,000 units, down from a previously announced figure of 850,000 units, due to parts shortages related to Covid disruptions.
Shares of Toyota rose 0.67% on Wednesday.
Currencies
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of peers, was at 106.602, after a sharp decline.
The Japanese yen traded at 138.13 per dollar, stronger than levels seen last week. The Australian dollar was at $0.6899, strengthening from earlier this week.
Bitcoin continued to gain ground, reaching above $23,000 at $23,417.87 at 10:26 PM ET on Tuesday.
U.S. crude futures were down 0.66 percent at $103.53 a barrel, while Brent crude was down 0.35 percent at $106.97 a barrel. Both benchmarks settled 1% higher in the previous session.
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