Hong Kong (AFP) – Asian markets extended gains on Wednesday, with Tokyo and Seoul emulating a record day on Wall Street as fresh data pointing to a weakening US jobs market ramped up expectations for a series of Federal Reserve rate cuts. Eyes are now on the release of inflation figures that could help guide the US central bank’s decision-making for the rest of the year.
Figures on Tuesday showed that the Bureau of Labor Statistics had revised down the number of new jobs in the 12 months through March by a record 911,000, suggesting the economy was slowing quicker than thought. The reading came after news Friday of another big miss on August’s non-farm payrolls report. Fed boss Jerome Powell last month indicated cuts were in the pipeline, having batted away long-running pressure from US President Donald Trump to do so owing to worries about stubbornly high inflation.
Analysts said the only question was now how big a reduction would be made at the bank’s policy meeting next week. “The punchy revision will only accelerate the pressure on the Fed to ease in September, and throughout the balance of 2025,” said Chris Weston at Pepperstone. “While expectations could evolve if we get a benign core (consumer price index) print, at this stage, the Fed is far more likely to cut by 25 basis points and to guide with a strong bias that more cuts are to come in the months ahead.”
After all three main indexes on Wall Street ended at record highs, Asia continued the positive run on Wednesday with tech firms among the best performers. Tokyo ended at an all-time high, as did Seoul where South Korean traders were hopeful the government will not implement a proposal to lower the capital gains tax threshold for stocks. Hong Kong hit a four-year peak, while Sydney, Singapore, Taipei, Wellington, Bangkok and Mumbai were also in the green.
Jakarta clawed back a large part of Tuesday’s heavy losses that came after President Prabowo Subianto removed finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati in a cabinet reshuffle following deadly anti-government protests. Shanghai rose even after data showed the Chinese CPI fell back into negative territory, indicating leaders in the world’s number two economy were still struggling to reignite consumer spending.
Still, Fidelity International economist Peiqian Liu remained upbeat in light of last year’s stimulus measures by Beijing and a string of other developments including the emergence of the DeepSeek AI platform, improving exports, and AI investment. “The extension of the US-China trade truce until early November offers additional breathing room, steadying immediate trade outlooks and supporting the credibility of this year’s growth targets,” she wrote. “In response, recent economists’ surveys saw consensus GDP forecasts for 2025 have been raised close to the government’s target of five percent.”
London, Paris and Frankfurt were all higher in the morning. There was little negative reaction to news Trump had told Brussels he would hit China and India with new tariffs for their purchases of Russian oil if EU nations also did so. Meanwhile, crude extended Tuesday’s gains on renewed fears over the Middle East after Israel’s strikes on Hamas in Qatar.
– Key figures at around 0830 GMT –
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.9 percent at 43,837.67 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.0 percent at 26,200.26 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 3,812.22 (close)
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 9,255.86
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1709 from $1.1707 on Tuesday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3536 from $1.3527
Dollar/yen: UP at 147.46 from 147.42 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.49 pence from 86.57 pence
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.8 percent at $63.12 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.7 percent at $66.88 per barrel
New York – Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 45,711.34 (close)
© 2024 AFP
