BANGKOK (AP) – Shares fell in most Asian markets on Friday after China reported a stronger-than-expected rise in prices, which could prompt authorities to cool inflation.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index recovered after falling the previous day. Shares fell in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney and Seoul.
On Thursday, shares closed moderately higher on Wall Street, boosted by the rise in major technology companies benefiting from lower bond yields. However, an increase in jobless claims has scaled down the buying drive.
China reported that consumer prices rose in March due to rising fuel prices, while producer prices climbed at the fastest pace in more than four years.
The consumer price index rose by 0.4% in March compared to minus 0.2% in February, as fuel prices rose by almost 12% compared to a year earlier. Prices paid by manufacturers increased by 4.4% over a year earlier.
Inflation reflects rising demand as China’s economy leads the global recovery from the pandemic. Concerns that stronger growth in inflation could spur regulators in very large economies to cool down, in part by raising interest rates, have hung over the markets over the past few months.
In addition, a new round of US sanctions, this time against seven Chinese supercomputer manufacturers, has revived concerns about trade friction between the two largest economies, said Jeffrey Halley of Oanda.
‘Asian markets are taking a more cautious stance today. “Geopolitics is never far from the surface, even if it is often lost in the global noise of recovery,” Halley said in a report.
The Shanghai Composite Index SHCOMP,
lost 1% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong HSI,
it decreased by 1.3%. Australia’s S & P / ASX 200 XJO,
0.2% surrendered and the Kospi 180721,
in Seoul decreased by 0.3%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 NIK,
increased by 0.2%.
Shares in Sony Corp SONY,
rose 2.7% after the company signed an exclusive movie distribution deal with Netflix NFLX,
On Thursday, the S&P 500 index SPX,
rose 0.4% to 4,097.17, another record high after records set on Monday and Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA,
achieved 0.2%, to 33,503.57. The technically heavy Nasdaq Composite COMP,
it climbed 1% to 13,829.31.
Small stocks, which surpassed the broader market this year, also had a good performance. The Russell 2000 Index RUT,
of smaller companies picked up 0.9%, to 2,242.60. The index has risen 13.6% so far this year, while the S&P 500, which follows large companies, has risen 9.1%.
Stocks benefited this week as bond yields, which rose steadily higher, retreated from the highs hit earlier in the month.
The yield on the American treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y for ten years,
affecting interest rates on mortgages and other loans, fell from 1.65% late Wednesday to 1.63%. It was up to 1.75% on Monday.
That decline in yields has put a bit of pressure on technology stocks, which have been declining over the past few months, as yields have jumped, making the shares look expensive. The sector also experienced bad trading as investors shifted more money to companies benefiting from the economic recovery.
Apple AAPL,
increased by 1.9%, Microsoft MSFT,
1.3% and Amazon AMZN,
0.6% added.
Investors are showing cautious optimism about the economic recovery, especially in the US, where vaccine distribution is on the rise, and President Joe Biden has proposed a deadline for states to make doses available by April 19.
But it is clear that the recovery is still a long way off. The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week rose again last week because many businesses were still closed or partially closed due to the pandemic.
Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, said in a statement to the International Monetary Fund on Thursday that a number of factors “put the country on track” to enable a complete reopening of the economy.
In other trades, the US standard crude oil CL.1,
rose 11 cents to $ 59.71 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost 17 cents to $ 59.60 on Thursday. Brent ru BRN00,
the international standard, fell by 2 cents to $ 63.18.
The US dollar rose to 109.32 Japanese yen USDJPY,
from 109.25 yen. The euro EURUSD,
dropped from $ 1.1917 to $ 1.1904.