Asian stocks have advanced after U.S. stock indexes drifted near their records on Friday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average finishing above 40,000 for the first time
Asian stocks advanced Monday after U.S. stock indexes drifted around their records on Friday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing above 40,000 for the first time.
U.S. futures rose, and oil prices climbed as investors focused on the Middle East, where a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and other officials crashed in the mountainou s northwest reaches of Iran on Sunday.
China’s market extended last week’s gains after the central bank announced new support for the property industry, including cutting required down payments for housing loans, cutting mortgage interest rates for first and second home purchases and removing a mortgage rate floor.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.5% to 19,648.19, with its property index up 0.6% by midday. The Shanghai Composite index advanced 0.3% to 3,162.08.
On Monday, China‘s central bank left the one- and five-year loan prime rate unchanged at 3.45% and 3.95%, in line with expectations. The one-year LPR serves as the benchmark for most new and outstanding loans in China, while the five-year rate affects the pricing of property mortgages.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index surged 1.4% to 39,346.92. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.6% to 7,862.70. The Kospi in Korea rose 0.6% to 2,741.55.
Elsewhere, Taiwan’s Taiex edged 0.1% higher after Lai Ching-te was inaugurated as Taiwan’s new president. Lai is expected to uphold the island’s de facto independence policy from China and seek to bolster its defenses against Beijing, which claims the island as Chinese territory.
In Bangkok, the SET was up 0.3%.
On Friday, the Dow rose 0.3% to 40,003.59, a day after briefly topping the 40,000 level for the first time. It and other indexes on Wall Street have been climbing since the autumn of 2022 as the U.S. economy and corporate profits have managed to hold up despite high inflation, the punishing effects of high interest rates and worries about a recession that seemed inevitable but hasn’t arrived.
The S&P 500, which is the much more important index for Wall Street and most retirement savers, added 0.1% to 5,303.27. It finished just 0.1% shy of its record set on Wednesday and closed out a fourth straight week of gains. The Nasdaq composite slipped 0.1% to 16,685.97.
Elsewhere in financial markets, Treasury yields ticked higher.
Source: abcNEWS
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