Taiwan stocks shake off China’s military drills to rise 2%; Asia shares trade higher
Taiwan shares led gains in Asia-Pacific markets as investors shake off China’s military drills following U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit.
Taiwan’s Taiex jumped 2.03%, with chipmaker TSMC rising 3%. The index traded lower this week as U.S.-China tensions increased over Pelosi’s trip.
Markets appear unfazed by China’s drills around Taiwan, though Japan’s Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said Chinese missiles landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone and called the military drills a “serious problem,” according to an NBC News report.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan rose 0.78% and the Topix index gained 0.75%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.76%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 increased 0.43%. The Reserve Bank of Australia revised its inflation forecasts and warned that the economy is set to slow.
In South Korea, the Kospi advanced 0.87% and the Kosdaq added 0.84%
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was fractionally higher.
Alibaba’s Hong Kong shares dropped around 2% after the company reported flat revenue growth, though fiscal first-quarter earnings beat expectations.
Mainland China markets were higher. The Shanghai Composite was up 0.28% and the Shenzhen Component gained 0.64%.
The Reserve Bank of India announced that it would raise rates by 50 basis points to 5.4%.
Out of 63 respondents to a Reuters poll, 26 expected that outcome, while 20 predict a 35-basis-point increase.
“We think optimal policy anchoring will require at least another 50bp hike,” Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank, wrote in a Friday note ahead of the decision. He pointed to underlying inflation risks and a hawkish Fed.
“All said, it is in the interest … of the RBI to front-load a 50bp than to spare 15bp-25bp but squander macro-stability derived from May/June hikes,” he said.
After the announcement, the Nifty 50 was 0.28% higher and BSE Sensex in India rose 0.34%.
The Indian rupee strengthened slightly to trade at 79.03 per dollar.
Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 85.68 points, or 0.26%, to 32,726.82. The S&P 500 was about flat at 4,151.94 at the close. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.41% to 12,720.58.
Friday’s jobs report is expected to show that 258,000 jobs were added in the U.S. last month, according to Dow Jones economist estimates. That’s fewer than the 372,000 added in June.
