Asia stocks rise after Wall Street rally

AFP, HONG KONG:  A strong lead from Wall Street and a rebound in oil prices gave Asian stock markets a lift yesterday, even as fresh economic data from China missed expectations. Investors shrugged off figures from the world’s second largest economy showing retail sales growth slowed, instead tracking US markets where all three major indices vaulted to new records. Oil prices also extended overnight gains in Asian trade after Saudi Arabia’s oil minister hinted that crude producers may take action to rebalance the market.
“Asia Pacific markets are set to finish the week on a high following strong leads from European and US investors,” Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney, said in an email commentary. “Industrial commodities rose, led by oil, and overnight trading displayed ‘risk on’ characteristics despite the lack of an obvious trigger.” The US highs—last seen among the leading indices in 1999 -- came amid strong gains in petroleum-linked shares and retailers, while European stocks also pushed higher thanks to accommodative central bank policies lending continued support to equities. Among the performers was China’s New York-listed e-commerce behemoth Alibaba, which reported sales of 32.15 billion yuan ($4.83 billion), 59 per cent  higher than a year ago and above analyst expectations. Tokyo closed at its highest level in more than two months, rising 1.1 per cent  after having been closed Thursday for a national holiday. Sydney gained 0.4 per cent, while Kuala Lumpur was up despite figures showing economic growth slowed its most since 2009 during the second quarter.
Shanghai and Hong Kong also surged—rising 1.6 per cent and 0.9 per cent respectively even as China data disappointed.
Government figures released Friday showed that retail sales in the Asian powerhouse rose 10.2 per cent  year-on-year in July, a sharp slowdown from the 10.6 per cent  increase in June and below the median forecast of a 10.5 per cent  rise in a Bloomberg News poll of economists.
Also missing expectations was factory output, which increased 6.0 per cent  in July over the year before, and fixed asset investment, a gauge of infrastructure spending, which rose 8.1 per cent  in the first seven months of the year.
Industrial output had been expected to show 6.2 per cent  growth and fixed asset investment 8.9 per cent  growth.
“Though the economic data are weak, they are still within an acceptable range to investors,” Wang Zheng, the Shanghai-based chief investment officer at Jingxi Investment Management Co told Bloomberg News.
The National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement China’s economy was “basically steady” in July but that “serious disasters” from flooding and high temperatures in some parts of the country caused some indicators to slow.
Beijing is looking to retool the economy from a reliance on investment spending and exports to one driven more by consumer demand, but the transition is proving bumpy and gross domestic product growth expanded last year at its slowest rate in a quarter of a century. Oil rebounds Energy stocks were among those seeing gains after the oil price rebounded. Hong Kong-listed CNOOC rose 3.4 per cent while Santos added almost 4 per cent  in Sydney and Formosa Chemical Corporation also advanced 2.9 per cent  in Taipei. Oil, which had entered a “bear” market last week, dropped Wednesday after US data showed crude stocks remained high and a report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries revealed Saudi Arabian oil production had risen last month to nearly 11 million barrels per day. But in remarks reported Thursday, Saudi oil minister Khalid al-Falih suggested producers could agree to cut output next month at an informal OPEC meeting.
“His enchanting words sent equity markets into froth,” said Stephen Innes, senior trader at OANDA Asia Pacific.
“Despite signals pointing to a potentially enormous bulge in crude stocks for 2017, there appears to be no taming of the oil market bull when OPEC speaks.”
In early European trade, London and Paris were flat while Frankfurt was down 0.2 per cent.

 

Asia stocks rise after Wall Street rally

AFP, HONG KONG: A strong lead from Wall Street and a rebound in oil prices gave Asian stock markets a lift yesterday, even as fresh economic data from China missed expectations. Investors shrugged off figures from the worlds second largest economy showing retail sales growth slowed, instead tracking US markets where all three major indices vaulted to new records. Oil prices also extended overnight gains in Asian trade after Saudi Arabias oil minister hinted that crude producers may take action to rebalance the market. Asia Pacific markets are set to finish the week on a high following strong leads from European and US investors, Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney, said in an email commentary. Industrial commodities rose, led by oil, and overnight trading displayed risk on characteristics despite the lack of an obvious trigger. The US highslast seen among the leading indices in 1999 -- came amid strong gains in petroleum-linked shares and retailers, while European stocks also pushed higher thanks to accommodative central bank policies lending continued support to equities. Among the performers was Chinas New York-listed e-commerce behemoth Alibaba, which reported sales of 32.15 billion yuan ($4.83 billion), 59 per cent higher than a year ago and above analyst expectations. Tokyo closed at its highest level in more than two months, rising 1.1 per cent after having been closed Thursday for a national holiday. Sydney gained 0.4 per cent, while Kuala Lumpur was up despite figures showing economic growth slowed its most since 2009 during the second quarter. Shanghai and Hong Kong also surgedrising 1.6 per cent and 0.9 per cent respectively even as China data disappointed. Government figures released Friday showed that retail sales in the Asian powerhouse rose 10.2 per cent year-on-year in July, a sharp slowdown from the 10.6 per cent increase in June and below the median forecast of a 10.5 per cent rise in a Bloomberg News poll of economists. Also missing expectations was factory output, which increased 6.0 per cent in July over the year before, and fixed asset investment, a gauge of infrastructure spending, which rose 8.1 per cent in the first seven months of the year. Industrial output had been expected to show 6.2 per cent growth and fixed asset investment 8.9 per cent growth. Though the economic data are weak, they are still within an acceptable range to investors, Wang Zheng, the Shanghai-based chief investment officer at Jingxi Investment Management Co told Bloomberg News. The National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement Chinas economy was basically steady in July but that serious disasters from flooding and high temperatures in some parts of the country caused some indicators to slow. Beijing is looking to retool the economy from a reliance on investment spending and exports to one driven more by consumer demand, but the transition is proving bumpy and gross domestic product growth expanded last year at its slowest rate in a quarter of a century. Oil rebounds Energy stocks were among those seeing gains after the oil price rebounded. Hong Kong-listed CNOOC rose 3.4 per cent while Santos added almost 4 per cent in Sydney and Formosa Chemical Corporation also advanced 2.9 per cent in Taipei. Oil, which had entered a bear market last week, dropped Wednesday after US data showed crude stocks remained high and a report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries revealed Saudi Arabian oil production had risen last month to nearly 11 million barrels per day. But in remarks reported Thursday, Saudi oil minister Khalid al-Falih suggested producers could agree to cut output next month at an informal OPEC meeting. His enchanting words sent equity markets into froth, said Stephen Innes, senior trader at OANDA Asia Pacific. Despite signals pointing to a potentially enormous bulge in crude stocks for 2017, there appears to be no taming of the oil market bull when OPEC speaks. In early European trade, London and Paris were flat while Frankfurt was down 0.2 per cent.