Buildings in the central business district in Singapore, Wednesday, February 14, 2024. Singapore’s economy grew slightly slower than initially expected in 2023 as manufacturing activity declined and growth in the services sector moderated.
Nicky Loh | Bloomberg |
Markets in the Asia-Pacific region rose on Friday and are set to end the week higher, following gains on Wall Street overnight after new economic data eased fears of a recession in the US.
Retail sales rose 1% in July, easily beating the Dow Jones forecast of 0.3%. Weekly unemployment figures also fell during the week.
“Today’s solid retail sales and claims numbers remind us that the sky is not falling on the U.S. economy,” Stephanie Roth, chief economist at Wolfe Research, wrote on Thursday. “Yes, economic momentum has slowed, but we do not appear to be heading for an imminent recession.”
Traders in Asia assessed revised trade data from South Korea and export data from Singapore. Second-quarter GDP data for Taiwan and Hong Kong will be released after the market close.
Japan’s Nikkei225 rose 2.98%, leading gains in Asia, while the broader Topix rose 2.44%.
South Korea’s Kospi returned from a holiday with a gain of 1.8 percent, while the small-cap Kosdaq gained 1.13 percent.
The country’s revised trade data for July was unchanged from the preliminary figures, with exports rising 13.9% to $57.5 billion and imports increasing 10.5% to $53.9 billion.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 posted a smaller gain of 1.3 percent. On Friday, Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michelle Bullock said that while markets had brought forward their expectations of a rate cut following inflation figures in the US and Australia, it was still “premature” to consider rate cuts.
She pointed out that inflation was still “too high” and was not expected to return to the upper end of the RBA’s target range of two to three percent until the end of next year.
“Of course, circumstances may change and the outlook is uncertain. But based on what the board currently knows, it does not believe it will be able to cut interest rates in the near future.”
Separately, Singapore’s domestic exports (excluding oil) rose 15.7 percent year-on-year in July, after declining 8.8 percent in June, well above Reuters poll expectations for 1.2 percent growth.
Total trade grew by 13.7% in July 2024, building on the 1.2% increase in June, as both exports and imports increased.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.09%, while the CSI 300 in mainland China traded near the zero line.
