- Canada to further cut international student, foreign worker permits
- YouTube launches new TV-focused tools for creators
- White Sox heading for worst season in MLB history
- China the top challenge in US history: senior diplomat
- Hong Kong democracy tycoon's son warns time running out
- New migraine drugs no better than cheap painkillers: big study
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs again denied bail in sex trafficking case
- Brewers clinch division title as MLB playoff race heats up
- Man City blunted by 'giant' Inter in Champions League stalemate
- US stocks dip despite larger Fed interest rate cut
- Man City held by Inter as PSG pinch win in Champions League
- All Blacks recall Beauden Barrett for Australia Test
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 20, wound 450
- Spurs late show saves Postecoglou blushes at Coventry
- PSG snatch late goal to beat Champions League debutants Girona
- Gittens' late double gives Dortmund Champions League win at Brugge
- Man City blunted by Inter in Champions League stalemate
- Hidden talent: French Olympic star Marchand opts for disguise
- MrBeast named in California lawsuit over 'Beast Games' show
- Gauff splits with Gilbert as coach after 14-month run
- Hundreds of thousands at risk in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN
- Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
- Venezuelan opposition candidate says letter conceding election was coerced
- Ukraine official claims Russian advance in Kursk has been 'stopped'
- X update allows app to bypass Brazil ban: internet providers
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 14, wound 450
- US Fed makes aggressive rate cut, weeks before election
- Arsenal's Odegaard faces lengthy injury absence
- India coal expansion risks massive methane growth: report
- China the top challenge in US history, top diplomat says
- US Fed makes larger half-point cut in first reduction since 2020
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr appoint former AC Milan boss Pioli
- Ainslie 'relieved' as British book place in Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Struggling Roma replace sacked icon De Rossi with Ivan Juric
- Women's NBA will add 15th team in Portland in 2026
- Brazil fires need harsher punishment: environmental police boss
- Boeing to start large temporary furloughs amid Seattle strike
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill nine, wound 300
- 'Emergency' declared over falling UK butterfly numbers
- McIlroy outlines threats to golf peace deal
- Stock markets, dollar slip before US rate decision
- Russian advance in Kursk 'stopped': Ukraine official to AFP
- UN members demand end to 'unlawful' Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- Snapchat pushes 'safer' platform image, but not everyone agrees
- Three dead, 100 wounded in new wave of Lebanon device explosions
- So where does the oceans' plastic waste come from?
- Allied war heroes buried in Netherlands... 80 years on
- Marsh coy over Australia's choice to open alongside Head
- New London sculpture pays tribute to trans community
- Lebanon doctors tell of horror after pager blasts
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Asian markets mostly rise as Hong Kong reopens, eyes on US jobs
Asian markets mostly rose Friday as a rally in Hong Kong on its first day back from a break helped overcome a sharp drop on Wall Street, though a surprisingly hawkish tilt from the European Central Bank added fuel to fears about the removal of pandemic-era stimulus.
All eyes are now on the release later in the day of US jobs data, which is often used as a guide for possible Federal Reserve policy decisions, before next week's eagerly awaited inflation report.
With the jobs market well on the recovery track as the economy reopens, the central bank has said it feels it has enough room to begin raising interest rates from March to fight soaring inflation, which is sitting at a four-decade high.
However, while the outlook for growth remains upbeat, investors are having to recalibrate to adjust to the end of the era of cheap cash, which has helped fan a two-year rally that has pushed markets to record or multi-year highs.
Several Fed officials have come out recently to insist they will not put the recovery at risk in their tightening campaign, though debate on trading floors is rife about how much they will lift borrowing costs in March and how many more times they will do so this year.
Commentators say a strong reading on the jobs front Friday would revive talk of a more hawkish move in March with a 50 basis-point lift, as opposed to the 25 basis points usually announced.
The ECB's apparent shift in its outlook towards lifting rates this year itself stunned investors Thursday.
Boss Christine Lagarde has for months said inflationary pressures would be temporary and dissipate as the world economy reopens and supply chains resume -- allowing the bank to keep rates ultra-low this year.
But a record jump in prices last month and no sign of them easing has forced her to re-evaluate, saying the "situation had indeed changed".
The news came as the Bank of England announced a second successive increase.
"The first half of this year we are now experiencing a rates shock," Tracy Chen, of Brandywine Global Investment Management, told Bloomberg Television.
"If the Fed and BoE and other (emerging market) central banks are too aggressive in hiking interest rates, potentially we are going to face kind of a recession risk in the second half, or at least more slowdown in the economy."
The ECB news jolted US markets, which were already owing to a rout in tech stocks that came after Meta's sobering earnings report that sparked a 25 percent drop in its shares.
However, a blockbuster reading from Amazon -- which saw it record sales of almost $140 billion in the holiday quarter -- soothed some of those concerns and provided some support to Asia on Friday.
Hong Kong led the way, rising more than two percent as investors in the city returned from a three-day Lunar New Year break. Seoul, Singapore, Manila and Jakarta were also up. Tokyo was flat while Sydney and Wellington dipped.
On oil markets, WTI held above the $90 mark it broke Thursday for the first time in seven years, as traders bet on continued improvement in demand thanks to the economic reopening, and with the United States being hit with a cold snap.
Lingering worries over Ukraine-Russia tensions were also playing a key role in the spike, with analysts predicting $100 could be breached soon.
- Key figures around 0230 GMT -
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: FLAT at 27,233.83 (break)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 2.5 percent at 24,388.00
Shanghai - Composite: Closed for a holiday
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1453 from $1.1438 late Thursday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3605 from $1.3601
Euro/pound: UP at 84.18 pence from 84.06 pence
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 114.92 yen from 114.95 yen
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.7 percent at $90.93 per barrel
Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.5 percent at $91.60 per barrel
New York - Dow: DOWN 1.5 percent at 35,111.16 (close)
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.7 percent at 7,528.84 (close)
O.Bulka--BTB