Publications
Partners
Hong Kong - Tokyo stocks led a rebound on Asian markets on Friday, reversing losses in the previous session as regional bourses took their cue from Wall Street, which shrugged off disappointing economic data.
Asian markets were heading for a strong finish to the week, after a downturn on Thursday triggered by a trio of gloomy figures from China, the US and Japan that cast a pall over the economic outlook.
Tokyo stocks jumped 2.02% by the break, regaining ground lost the previous day as the yen weakened, giving a boost to exporters. Hong Kong also took heart from the US rally, edging up 0.93% after the opening bell.
Sydney was 0.65% stronger and Seoul was up 0.98%.
However, Chinese shares were down in morning trade as concerns lingered over the health of the economy after a much-watched index on Thursday showed Chinese manufacturing activity at a seven-month low.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.67% and the Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China's second exchange, slipped 0.16%.
The US dollar was changing hands at ¥102.30 early on Friday, hardly altered from ¥102.32 in New York on Thursday afternoon but up from ¥101.87 in Tokyo earlier in the day.
A weak yen is good for Japanese exporters as it makes them more competitive abroad and increases profits when repatriated.
The euro bought $1.3719 and ¥140.45 compared with $1.3718 and ¥140.37 in US trade.
"Discouraging external data has been responsible for the lack of buying support for Japan shares over the last several weeks," said Mutsumi Kagawa, senior global strategist at Tokai Tokyo Research Center.
"Investors are most keen to know whether the recent apparent lull in the US economic recovery is really due to data skewed by bad weather or needs to be taken more seriously.
"It will take more time to confirm," he told Dow Jones Newswires.
US stocks rallied to a near record high on Thursday, as investors chalked up disappointing unemployment and manufacturing figures to the impact of the severe winter.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 92.67 points to 16 133.23.
The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 11.03 points to 1 839.78, some eight points shy of its record high in mid-January, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 29.59 points at 4 267.55.
"Nearly every US economic report released over the past month has been distorted by the brutal winter weather. Temperatures will rise eventually and economic data will normalise but we still have at least another month worth of softer economic data ahead," said Kathy Lien of BK Asset Management.
Oil was mixed in Asian trade. New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for April delivery, eased two cents to $102.73 in its first day of trading. Brent North Sea crude for April rose five cents to $110.35.
Gold fetched $1 319.53 an ounce from $1 314.30 late on Thursday.
