by BANGKOK (AP) — Stocks saw mixed trading in Asia on Monday after Wall Street benchmarks closed higher on Friday, capping a third week of gains from the last four.
Tokyo and Shanghai rose while Hong Kong, Seoul and Sydney fell. Taiwan’s benchmark rose 3.8%.
Attention turned to Wednesday’s decision by the Federal Reserve on interest rates. A report from Friday showed inflation in the US is cooling further, giving hope for a smaller increase that is less painful than last year’s aggressive increases. The Fed’s preferred measure, which excludes food and energy costs, was 4.4% higher in December than a year earlier. That was less than inflation of 4.7% in November.
Reports that holiday travel had nearly returned to normal during last week’s Lunar New Year festivities raised expectations that China’s economy could bounce back faster than expected after pandemic restrictions were eased late last year.
During the first trading session after a week-long break, the Shanghai Composite index SHCOMP,
gained 0.1% to 3,269.32. However, Hang Seng HSI from Hong Kong,
lost 2.8% on massive sales of tech stocks. E-commerce giant Alibaba BABA,
9988,
fell 7.1% after reports it is building a facility in Singapore that some speculated could become its global headquarters.
Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post reported that the company had denied planning such a change, saying the new Singapore campus will house regional operations with partners such as Lazada. Alibaba is headquartered in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou.
Taiwan’s benchmark was lifted by gains in TSMC 2330,
the world’s largest maker of computer chips, which is up 8%.
Nikkei 225 NIK in Tokyo,
increased by 0.1% to 27,433.40. Kospi 180721 from South Korea,
lost 1.3% to 2,450.65 and the S&P/ASX 200 XJO,
in Sydney lost 0.2% to 7,481.70. India’s Sensex 1,
was unchanged and Bangkok’s SET SET,
sharpness less than 0.1% lower.
Shares in some Adani Group companies recovered some lost ground from recent massive losses after US short-selling company Hindenburg Research released a report on perceived major problems within India’s second largest conglomerate, which has interests in energy, data transmission, construction and other major industries.
The flagship, Adani Enterprises 512599,
gained 5.4% and the Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd. 532921,
2.1% added. But shares in other listed Adani companies fell between 5% and 20%.
The Adani Group said it was considering legal action against Hindenburg over allegations of stock market manipulation and accounting fraud.
Read: Adani shares mixed reactions after a 413-page comment on Hindenburg
On Friday, the S&P 500 SPX,
increased by 0.2% to 4,070.56. It has risen through January on growing beliefs that inflation is steadily declining, hopefully easing pressure on the economy and markets.
the Dow DJIA,
moved 0.1% higher to 33,978.08 and the Nasdaq COMP,
gained 0.9% to 11,621.71.
So far, the job market has remained remarkably resilient despite a slowing overall economy. Nearly all of the high-profile layoff announcements have been within the technology industry, which expanded rapidly after the pandemic soared demand for technology.
Mixed earnings results have led to some major swings in the markets.
Reports from Friday also showed that income growth for Americans slowed in December, while consumer spending fell slightly more than expected.
Economists said Friday’s data likely keeps the Fed on track to raise its key benchmark rate by 0.25 percentage points on Wednesday, a step down from last month’s 0.50 point increase and four consecutive increases of 0. 75 points for that.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury TMUBMUSD10Y,
which sets rates on mortgages and other major loans, held steady at 3.50% on Monday. The two-year rate, which moves more based on expectations for Fed action, remained at 4.19%.
On Other Trading Monday, US Benchmark Crude CL.1,
lost 63 cents to $79.20 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost $1.33 to $79.68 a barrel on Friday.
Brent raw BRN00,
the international price benchmark, gave up 40 cents to $86.00 a barrel.
the dollar DXY,
fell to 129.54 Japanese yen from 129.80 yen. The euro EURUSD,
rose from $1.0865 to $1.0866.
