Asian markets settled mostly higher on Friday tracking overnight gains in Wall Street fuelled by solid earnings beats from tech giants, despite cautious trade ahead of key US inflation data and Federal Reserve FOMC meeting. The US economy grew by an annualized 1.1 percent in the first quarter of 2023, slowing from a 2.6 percent expansion in the previous quarter and missing market expectations of a 2 percent growth, the government said in its advance estimate. Japanese shares gained after the Bank of Japan kept rates ultra-low in the first monetary policy meeting chaired by new governor Kazuo Ueda. Chinese shares rose after the country's central bank PBoC boosted short-term liquidity via reverse repos.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,323.27 | 37.39 | 1.13 |
Hang Seng | 19,894.57 | 54.29 | 0.27 |
Jakarta Composite | 6,915.72 | -29.76 | -0.43 |
KLSE Composite | 1,415.95 | -2.10 | -0.15 |
Nikkei 225 | 28,856.44 | 398.76 | 1.38 |
Straits Times | 3,270.51 | -11.52 | -0.35 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,501.53 | 5.72 | 0.23 |
Taiwan Weighted | 15,579.18 | 167.69 | 1.08 |
