HONG KONG (Reuters) – Asian stock markets were generally positive on Tuesday after China’s exports grew strongly in March and imports recovered, prompting investors to boost domestic demand as part of the recovery from the pandemic.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan rose 0.4% on Tuesday after hitting less than 0.1%.
In Australia, the S & P / ASX200 caught up with the regional trend and was flat while the Japanese Nikkei rose 1.1% in the afternoon session.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong added nearly 1%, while the blue-disc index on the mainland CSI300 rose 0.5% after the trade figures were published in March.
South Korea’s KOSPI 200 index doubled its early profit by 1%.
China’s exports in dollar terms increased by 30.6% in March compared to a year earlier, while imports increased by 38.1% compared to the same time last year.
Imports have grown at the fastest pace in four years, which analysts say indicates a recovery after the pandemic in Chinese domestic demand.
“China is benefiting from a rapid ‘first-in-first’ recovery, but the world economy is accelerating and growing, and this will reduce some of China’s export performance in the coming quarters,” said John Woods, chief investment officer at Credit Suisse in Asia-Pacific, said. official.
The trade data helped turn a weaker tone that was evident earlier in Asia after declining in Wall Street.
In the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 55.2 points, or 0.16%, to 33,745.4, the S&P 500 lost 0.81 points, or 0.02%, to 4,127.99 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 50.19 points, or 0.36%, to 13,850.00.
Eric Rosengren, president of the Boston Federal Reserve, said Monday that the U.S. economy could see a significant upswing this year due to weakened money and fiscal policy, but the labor market in the country is still weak.
He said that inflation was still below the central bank’s target rate of 2%, that the current ‘very accommodating’ stance in monetary policy remained appropriate.
US inflation data for March will be published later on World Day.
The dollar rose near near a three-week low on Tuesday against its biggest competitors, rising by a rising yield in the treasury as traders wait for expected inflation data.
Sat Duhra, a portfolio manager at Janus Henderson Investors in Singapore, said he expected inflation periods to be temporary and that there would be a long period of steady growth and low inflation, following a rapid setback from the pandemic. He also expects the growth of momentum and momentum in value-based equities to continue.
“The spread between stock returns and bond returns is still respectable and very interesting,” Duhra said.
‘The gap in valuations between growth and value stocks is so large that there is still a way to go. It’s not just around the corner.
The standard ten-year return was 1.6943% in the Asian session, which was lower than a 14-month high of 1.776% reached on March 30.
Reporting by Scott Murdoch in Hong Kong; Edited by Stephen Coates and Simon Cameron-Moore