Some Asian stocks rebounded on Friday after steep losses in the previous session as strong US economic growth and Apple Inc’s impressive earnings offset some bearishness generated by the US Federal Reserve’s hawkish comments.
US stock futures rose in Asia trade with NASDAQ futures up 0.77 percent and S&P 500 e-minis up 0.48 percent after Apple on Thursday reported record sales in the holiday quarter. Apple shares rose more than 5 percent in after-hours trading.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.4 percent after sliding 2.26 percent on Thursday. The index is still down 5.1 percent so far this month.
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“After [a] big sell-off earlier this week amid a hawkish stance by the Fed, we are seeing several markets in Asia recover from some of the heavy losses today,” said Zhang Zihua (張子華), chief investment officer at Beijing Yunyi Asset Management.
Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 2.09 percent to 26,717.34, but lost 2.92 percent from a week earlier. Fuji Electric surged 9.68 percent to become the Nikkei’s biggest percentage gainer, after posting strong earnings late on Thursday.
The broader TOPIX gained 1.87 percent to 1,876.89, down 2.61 percent on the week.
Seoul’s KOSPI increased 1.87 percent to 2,663.34, losing 6.03 percent from a week earlier, while Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 2.19 percent to 6,988.1, down 2.62 percent on the week.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell on Friday, capping off its worst week since August last year amid global investor jitters sparked by rising expectations of monetary tightening by the Fed.
At the close of trade, the Hang Seng was down 56.92 points, or 1.08 percent, at 23,550.08. The index lost 5.67 percent on the week, its biggest weekly percentage drop in 23 weeks.
The Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.97 percent to 3,361.44, losing 4.57 percent from a week earlier.
India’s SENSEX dipped 0.13 percent to 57,200.23, posting a weekly decline of 3.11 percent.
In Taiwan, the equity market is closed until Sunday next week, because of the Lunar New Year holiday. It last closed down 26.72 points, or 0.15 percent, at 17,674.40 on Wednesday, with turnover of NT$224.109 billion (US$8.05 billion). It declined 1.16 percent from Friday last week.
Additional reporting by staff writer, with CNA
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