Asia report: Stocks rise on another stellar day for Chinese tech

Stock markets in Asia were in the green as they closed on Friday, with Hong Kong’s main board rising more than 2%.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was up 1.23% at 26,491.97, as the yen weakened 0.01% against the dollar to last trade at JPY 134.97.

Fashion firm Fast Retailing was down 0.51%, while automation specialist Fanuc rose 1.4% and technology conglomerate SoftBank Group advanced 2.37%.

The broader Topix index was ahead 0.81% by the end of trading in Tokyo, settling at 1,866.72.

Inflation data for Japan released earlier was in line with expectations, with the consumer price index rising 2.5% year-on-year in May, unchanged from April.

Excluding fresh food, the CPI was 2.1% higher on the year, and discounting fresh food and energy it rose 0.8%, which were both also unchanged.

“Stable inflation, barely above target, is the envy of most developed market central bankers at the moment, who must miss the ‘boring’ first decade of this century,” said Craig Botham at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

“Almost nothing changed in Japanese inflation in May, as suggested by the headline numbers.”

Botham said there was a “slight shift” in the composition of overall inflation, with food inflation accelerating to 4.1% year-on-year from 3.9%, and household durables climbing to 7.5% from 5%, between them offsetting a decline in energy inflation to 17.1% from 19.1%.

“But most other subcomponents were as tranquil as the headlines.”

Botham was expecting CPI inflation to remain above target for the rest of the year, but only because of another leg up from base effects in October.

“Energy inflation should continue to moderate, driven both by base effects and recent falls in international prices, while food commodities are also starting to cool.

“The drop in the yen will import some inflation, but PPI inflation has also rolled over, so the net effect is more likely to be further sideways moves, rather than a crescendo of inflationary pressure.

“The Bank of Japan will be content to leave policy settings unchanged.”

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite was 0.89% firmer at 3,349.75, and the technology-heavy Shenzhen Component was 1.37% firmer at 12,686.03.

South Korea’s Kospi advanced 2.26% to 2,366.60, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was 2.09% higher at 21,719.06.

It was another solid day for Chinese technology plays in the special administrative region, with Alibaba Group up 5.46%, JD.com ahead 2.55%, Meituan rising 2.86%, NetEase adding 3.44%, SenseTime Group jumping 4.74%, Tencent Holdings 2.45% firmer, and Xpeng surging 7.32%.

Logistics company GoGoX Holdings closed at HKD 16.72 on its debut day, falling from its offer price of HKD 21.50 and its intraday peak of HKD 23.15.

The blue-chip technology stocks were on the front foot in Seoul, with Samsung Electronics up 1.74% and SK Hynix rising 1.55%.

Oil prices were higher as the region entered the weekend, with Brent crude futures last up 1.17% on ICE at $111.34 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate adding 1.3% to $105.62 on NYMEX.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.77% to end the day at 6,578.70, while traders in New Zealand were enjoying a long weekend for Matariki - the new year celebration on the Maori lunar calendar.

The down under dollars were both stronger on the greenback, with the Aussie last ahead 0.31% at AUD 1.4462, and the Kiwi advancing 0.66% to NZD 1.5839.

Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.