Crimson clouds light up the skyline of Victoria Harbour on July 14, 2022 in Hong Kong, China.
Li Zhihua | China News Service | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose Friday, with Chinese stocks likely set to cap off a week of gains on the back of Beijing’s stimulus measures aimed at boosting the economy.
China will release its industrial profit data later in the day, this will be on a year-to-date basis through August and investors will have to wait for the next batch of data to assess the effects of Tuesday’s stimulus measures.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures were at 20,575, higher than the HSI’s last close of 19,924.58. Should the futures data prove accurate, this would mean a more than 3% climb for the index at open.
The People’s Bank of China cut its 7-day reverse repurchase rate to 1.7% from 1.5%, its second cut in about three months. The short term rate was last lowered to 1.7% from 1.8% in July.
The central bank also slashed the reserve requirement ratio of financial institutions by 0.5 percentage points so as to “create a good monetary and financial environment for China’s stable economic growth and high-quality development,” according to a translated statement from the PBOC.
The bank added that the weighted average deposit reserve ratio of financial institutions will be about 6.6% after this reduction.
Investors also assessed September inflation numbers from Japan’s capital city of Tokyo, which is widely considered a leading indicator of nationwide trends.
Tokyo’s headline inflation rate eased to 2.2%, down from August’s 2.6%.
The core inflation rate — which strips out prices of fresh food — in the capital city came in at 2%, in line with expectations from economists polled by Reuters and down from 2.4% in August.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.52%, while the broad based Topix was down 0.23% after the CPI reading was announced.
South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.18%, while the small-cap Kosdaq 0.15% lower.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.25%, about 20 points away from its all-time high of 8,246.2.
Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes rose, with the S&P 500 hitting a new record following the release of upbeat U.S. economic data.
The broad market index climbed 0.40% to 5,745.37, lifted by gains in Micron Technology. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.60%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.62%.
A slate of fresh U.S. economic data also supported the market’s gains, with weekly jobless claims falling more than expected, pointing to a steady labor market.
Seperately, the final reading of the U.S.’ second-quarter GDP was unrevised at a strong 3%.
—CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Brian Evans contributed to this report.