Asian markets ended mostly higher on Friday, despite overnight losses in Wall Street on lingering recession fears. Boston Fed president Susan M. Collins said she expected interest rates in the US above 5% to tame the inflation, signalling more but milder interest rate hikes by the US Fed in the coming months. Chinese shares climbed ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays. Meanwhile, Chinese central bank PBoC kept benchmark lending rates unchanged for a fifth month in January, widely in line with expectations. Japanese shares rose, even after data showed Japan's core inflation rose to 4% in December last year on an annualized basis, the highest since December, 1981 and in line with expectations.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,264.81 | 24.53 | 0.75 |
Hang Seng | 22,044.65 | 393.67 | 1.79 |
Jakarta Composite | 6,874.93 | 55.02 | 0.80 |
KLSE Composite | 1,500.33 | 4.11 | 0.27 |
Nikkei 225 | 26,553.53 | 148.30 | 0.56 |
Straits Times | 3,293.71 | 17.53 | 0.53 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,395.26 | 14.92 | 0.62 |
Taiwan Weighted | -- | -- | -- |
