Stock indices of the Asia-Pacific region (APR) rose in trading on Friday, not following the U.S. stock market, which closed lower the day before.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index had gained 0.56 percent by close of trading.
Consumer prices in Japan, excluding fresh food (a key indicator tracked by the country’s central bank), rose 4 percent in December compared with the same month the previous year – the fastest pace since December 1981, according to the country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
The figure exceeded the Bank of Japan’s 2 percent target for the ninth consecutive month. It rose 3.7 percent in November. The consensus forecast of experts quoted by Trading Economics also envisioned an acceleration of growth to 4%.
Overall inflation in Japan last month was also 4% year-on-year, accelerating from 3.8% in November. The rate was the fastest since January 1991.
The leading gainers among indicator components are shares of construction company Taisei Corp. (+4.6%), owner of supermarket chain Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. (+4.2%) and metallurgical company Pacific Metals Co. Ltd. (+4.1%).
SoftBank Group shares slid 0.1%, Tokyo Electron gained 0.2% and Toyota Motor gained 1%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng stock index added 1.8% and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.8%.
The People’s Bank of China (NBK, the country’s central bank) again kept the benchmark one-year lending rate (LPR) at 3.65% per annum.
The rate for five-year loans remained at 4.3 percent per annum, the NBK said in a statement.
Thus, the NBK did not change them for the fifth month in a row.
Moreover, the NBK continued to inject liquidity into the financial system through open market operations. The Chinese Central Bank lent banks 62 billion yuan in seven-day reverse repo transactions at 2% per annum and 319 billion yuan in fourteen-day transactions at 2.15% per annum.
Oil and gas company CNOOC Ltd. (+5.4%) and Internet companies Meituan (+4.9%) and Baidu Inc. (+4.9%) were the growth leaders in Hong Kong.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. gained 3.7% and JD.com Inc. – up 3%.
South Korean indicator KOSPI gained 0.6%.
Producer prices in South Korea rose 6% year on year in December, the lowest since April 2021, official statistical data showed. A month earlier the growth of the indicator was 7.2%.
In monthly terms, the indicator declined by 0.2% (in November – 0.3%).
Stocks of one of the world’s largest chip and electronics maker Samsung Electronics Co. rose 0.5%, the value of automaker Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd. went up 0.3%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.2%.
The capitalization of the world’s largest mining companies BHP and Rio Tinto rose by 0.5% and 1% respectively.
Whitehaven Coal Ltd. shares jumped 6.2%. The company cut coal production by 4% in the second fiscal quarter but increased sales, with prices remaining high.
