Hong Kong (AFP) – Japanese shares ended down on Friday, but Chinese markets gained in disjointed Asian trade after Wall Street cheered strong results from electric car giant Tesla. US futures were holding steady after Elon Musk’s company surged nearly 22 percent on the back of higher earnings following a streak of disappointing results, helping to lift the Nasdaq and S&P 500. The Dow, however, was pulled lower by disappointing results from IBM and Honeywell.
In Asian trade on Friday, Tokyo stocks closed more than half a percent lower, while Hong Kong and Shanghai saw healthy gains. Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management pointed to uncertainty over elections this weekend and an upcoming Bank of Japan meeting as complicating the outlook for Japanese equities. “And let’s not forget USD/JPY blowing past the 150 mark. Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato is ringing the alarm bells, warning of ‘one-sided’ moves in the yen. Still, BOJ Governor (Kazuo) Ueda seems to be in no rush to do anything drastic,” he said. “Between election jitters and BOJ chess moves, Tokyo markets are probably in for a busy opening on Monday.”
Chinese markets, meanwhile, were recovering from their losses of the previous day, encouraged by a rebound in real estate sales, which fueled optimism about economic growth. Taipei, Seoul, Sydney, Bangkok, and Manila were also higher, but Singapore, Jakarta, Mumbai, and Wellington lost ground. Paris, London, and Frankfurt were all down.
In the United States, Treasury yields have pushed higher in recent days, although they retreated on Thursday, with uncertainty on trading floors growing less than two weeks ahead of US elections in which the outcome is still far from clear. Observers say some dealers are eyeing a win for Donald Trump and policies such as tax cuts that could stoke inflation. That, along with a strong run of US economic data and remarks from Federal Reserve officials backing a cautious approach to easing monetary policy, has seen expectations for rate cuts whittled back. US equities were “somewhat mixed at the close,” and “for a change, the US dollar has actually lost value,” said Phil Dobbie on National Australia Bank’s Morning Call podcast.
– Key figures around 0830 GMT –
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.6 percent at 37,913.92 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.5 percent at 20,590.15 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.6 percent at 3,299.70 (close)
London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 8,256.05
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0827 from $1.0832 on Thursday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2975 from $1.2972
Dollar/yen: UP at 152.00 yen from 151.83 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 83.45 pence from 83.47 pence
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.2 percent at $70.05 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.2 percent at $74.23 per barrel
New York – Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 42,374.36 (close)
© 2024 AFP
