BANGKOK — Stocks in Asia rose on Thursday as Wall Street stocks recovered most of their steep losses from the previous day.
Mainland Chinese markets remain closed for the Lunar New Year holiday, but benchmarks rose in most major markets except Seoul.
The Japanese economy reported contracting at an annual rate of 0.4% in the final quarter of 2023. Last year’s nominal GDP reached $4.2 trillion (approximately 591 trillion yen), making it the world’s fourth largest economy after the United States, China, and Germany. Germany has announced that its GDP in 2023 will be $4.4 trillion or $4.5 trillion, depending on currency conversion.
Tokyo’s Nikkei Stock Average JP:NIK rose 0.7%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HK:HSI rose 0.1%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 AU:XJO rose 0.6%. South Korea’s Kospi KR:180721 fell 0.1%.
India’s Sensex IN:1 rose 0.4% and Taiwan’s Tyex TW:Y9999 rose 2.8%. SET TH:SET in Bangkok remained almost unchanged.
Wednesday, S&P 500 SPX
rose 1% to 5,000.62, recouping more than two-thirds of its losses from Tuesday. The better-than-expected inflation report has forced investors to postpone their predictions for when the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates, which could be in the summer. Expectations for such rate cuts are a big reason why stock prices have soared to record levels recently.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA rose 0.4% to $38,424.27, a day after its worst decline in nearly 11 months. The Nasdaq Composite COMP rose 1.3% to 15,859.15.
Small-cap stocks, which were hit hardest by concerns about rising interest rates on Tuesday, rebounded more than the rest of the market. Russell 2000 index RUT rose 2.4%.
Calm in the bond market helped stabilize conditions on Wall Street. U.S. Treasury yields fell after rising a day earlier on expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates high for an extended period of time. The central bank has already raised its key interest rate to its highest level since 2001, hoping to slow the broader economy enough to bring high inflation down to target levels.
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell to 4.25% from 4.32% late Tuesday. The rate remains well above the 3.85% level at the beginning of this month.
In other trades, US benchmark crude oil
CLH24
The oil fell 30 cents to $76.34 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.brent crude oil
BRNJ24
,
It fell 27 cents from the international standard to $81.33 per barrel.
USD
US dollar yen
The price fell from 150.46 yen to 150.24 yen.
