Publications
Partners
Hong Kong - Asian markets rose Thursday as investors welcomed the US Federal Reserve's decision to keep its stimulus scheme in place, with its view the economy was growing modestly soothing fears over the programme's future.
Figures showing the world's number one economy grew more than forecast in the second quarter also provided support, while a better than expected official reading on Chinese manufacturing helped Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Tokyo rose 2.47%, or 337.45 points, to 14 005.77 as the dollar slowly edged up against the yen after upbeat figures on economic growth. Sydney gained 0.19%, or 9.5 points, to close at 5 061.5 and Seoul put on 0.35%, or 6.71 points, to 1 920.74.
Shanghai rallied 1.77%, or 35.37 points, to 2 029.07 and in the afternoon Hong Kong added 0.79%.
After its closely watched policy meeting, the Fed said economic growth was "modest" and pledged to maintain its aggressive bond-buying programme. It did not give a timetable for winding the scheme down.
Art Hogan, a managing director at Lazard Capital Markets, rated the Fed's statement as "mildly dovish" and suggested that the Fed was more likely to begin reeling in by about December, rather than September.
Also Wednesday, Washington said gross domestic product grew 1.7% in April-June, above the 1.1% pace expected by analysts - although it also included a steep downgrade in growth for the previous three months to 1.1% from 1.8%.
While the Fed announcement was positive, it provided nothing new and Wall Street ended mixed. The Dow fell 0.14%, the S&P 500 was flat and the Nasdaq rose 0.27%.
However, the dollar was helped by the upbeat growth figures and in early Asian trade it bought ¥98.65, compared with ¥97.92 in New York late Wednesday.
In other forex trade, the euro fetched $1.3267 and ¥130.88 against $1.3301 and ¥130.24.
Chinese investors welcomed Beijing's official purchasing managers index (PMI) on manufacturing activity, which showed a surprise rise in July.
The index hit 50.3 last month from 50.1 in June, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. That compares with a median forecast of 49.8 in a survey of 11 economists by Dow Jones Newswires.
A reading below 50 indicates contraction, while anything above signals expansion.
The data will come as a relief after several months of miserable statistics that have pointed to a slowdown in the Asian economic giant and key driver of global growth.
A separate survey by banking giant HSBC released soon after the official data confirmed its own preliminary findings released last week that showed its PMI at 47.7 in July, down from 48.2 in June.
In oil trading New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in September, climbed 52 cents to $105.55 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for September rose 24 cents to $107.94.
Gold cost $1 319.80 per ounce at 09:00, compared with $1 332.27 late Wednesday.
In other markets:
-- Taipei fell 0.64%t, or 51.72 points, to 8 056.22. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. fell 1.95% to Tw$100.5 while Hon Hai was 1.54% lower at Tw$76.6.
-- Wellington rose 0.17%, or 7.78 points, to 4 545.77.
Fletcher Building added 1.48% to NZ$8.25 and Telecom climbed 0.89% to NZ$2.27.
