Asian markets ended higher on Friday, as investors cheered dovish comments by a top Fed official as well as better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings results from Microsoft Corp. Japanese shares ended up after steep losses in the previous session as the appreciation of the yen took a breather. Further, Seoul shares rallied to snap a two-day losing streak on hopes for a Fed rate cut during a policy meeting slated for later this month. New York Fed President John Williams said that policymakers need to add stimulus early to deal with too-low inflation when interest rates are near zero and cannot wait for economic disaster to unfold, in a speech read as a strong argument in favour of quick action. The comments by Williams made it a virtual certainty the Fed would opt to cut interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) at its July 30-31 policy meeting and also fuelled expectations of an even deeper 50 bps reduction.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2,924.20 | 23.02 | 0.79 |
Hang Seng | 28,765.40 | 303.74 | 1.07 |
Jakarta Composite | 6,456.54 | 53.25 | 0.83 |
KLSE Composite | 1,658.19 | 9.26 | 0.56 |
Nikkei 225 | 21,466.99 | 420.75 | 2.00 |
Straits Times | 3,377.96 | 16.91 | 0.50 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,094.36 | 27.81 | 1.35 |
Taiwan Weighted | 10,873.19 | 73.91 | 0.68 |
