Asian markets end higher on Friday

19 Jul 2019 Evaluate

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

 

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