On Wednesday, Asia-Pacific markets rose on the back of gains on Wall Street in view of hopes of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve even as investors took stock of August inflation data from China. Mainland China’s CSI 300 gained 0.46%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 1.35% to reach a new high since late 2021, while the Hang Seng Tech index was up 1.82%.
China’s Inflation Data in Focus
Data from China which was released recently showed consumer prices slipping 0.4% year-on-year in August, faster than the predicted contraction of 0.2% based on a Reuters poll. The producer price index also declined by 2.9% on the same measure, as expected, but improved from a 3.6% fall in July.
In corporate news, Alibaba Group shares listed in Hong Kong rose 2.1% after briefly hitting a near four-year high earlier in the day. The rally came after robotics startup X Square Robot announced it had raised about $100 million in a funding round led by Alibaba Cloud.
Kospi Hits Record High as Regional Markets Rally
South Korea’s Kospi stole the spotlight, climbing 1.75% to close at a record high of 3,317.77. It marked the index’s seventh consecutive day of gains. However, the country’s jobless rate edged slightly higher, with the seasonally adjusted unemployment figure ticking up to 2.6% in August from 2.5% in July. The smaller Kosdaq index also added 0.53%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.72%, while the Topix rose 0.53%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was 0.35% higher. Over in India, the Nifty 50 gained 0.56% and the Sensex added 0.54%.
Tech stocks in the region also drew attention after Apple unveiled its latest iPhones, watches, and AirPods on Tuesday. Suppliers such as Foxconn rose 1.2% and Samsung Electronics added 1.4%. Yet, despite the buzz, Apple’s own shares slipped 1.48% in the U.S. overnight, suggesting muted investor enthusiasm.
Other cities besides Jakarta have their Jakarta Composite Index increase to 1.06% after three days of losses, owing to political uncertainties because of the sudden dismissal of Finance Ministry Sri Mulyani Indrawati. The rupiah strengthened 0.15% to 16,446 against the dollar after retreating more than 1% in the previous session. Singapore’s Straits Times Index sky-rocketed above 1 percent to hit yet another record level at 39341.32.
U. S. futures for stocks were edging up during Asian trading when investors were expecting new data on producer and consumer prices to be released later in the week. Wall Street was again berating fresh securities records overnight as the S and P 500 surged by 0.27 percent to close at 6,512.61, the Nasdaq Composite rising by 0.37 percent to reach 21,879.49, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished with an uptick of 0.43 percent to 45,711.34 by virtue of UnitedHealth shares uplift.
