A cyclist walks past the entrance of the Tokyo Stock Exchange headquarters building in the Nihonbashi district of Tokyo on May 2, 2024.
Richard A. Brooks | AFP | Getty Images
Japanese stocks led gains in Asia on Friday and were on track for their best week in four years, with the Nikkei 225 and Topix both rising more than 2%, after Wall Street rose overnight as fresh economic data eased recession fears.
U.S. retail sales rose 1% in July, beating the Dow Jones estimate of a 0.3% gain. Weekly jobless claims also fell during the week.
“Today’s strong retail sales and jobless claims data remind us that the sky is not falling on the U.S. economy,” Stephanie Roth, chief economist at Wolfe Research, wrote Thursday. “Economic momentum has slowed, but it doesn’t look like we’re headed for a recession anytime soon.”
Traders in Asia assessed revised trade data from South Korea and export data from Singapore. Taiwan and Hong Kong are due to release second-quarter GDP data after trading hours.
Singapore's non-oil domestic exports grew 15.7% year-on-year in July, after falling 8.8% in June, well above a Reuters poll forecast for a 1.2% gain.
Total trade grew by 13.7% in July 2024, building on the 1.2% increase in June, with both exports and imports increasing.
South Korea Cosby The Tokyo Stock Exchange returned from a public holiday to trade 1.8% higher, while the Kosdaq Small Cap Index rose 1.13%.
The country's revised trade data for July remained unchanged from its initial figures, with exports growing 13.9% to $57.5 billion and imports rising 10.5% to $53.9 billion.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index rose 1.3%. On Friday, Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michelle Bullock said that while markets had priced in interest rate cuts following the U.S. and Australian inflation data, it was still “premature” to think about cutting rates.
She noted that inflation remains “very high” and is not expected to return to the top of the RBA's target range of 2% to 3% until the end of next year.
“Circumstances may, of course, change, and the outlook is uncertain. But based on what the Governing Council currently knows, it does not expect to be in a position to cut interest rates in the near term.”
Hong Kong Hang Seng Index China's CSI 300 index rose 0.15%.
