BANGKOK (AP) — Stocks rose in Europe and Asia ahead of an update Friday on US wholesale prices that will provide insight into how companies are dealing with inflation.
Germany’s DAX added 0.2% to 14,295.30 while Paris’ CAC 40 was almost unchanged at 6,649.30. Britain’s FTSE 100 was also little changed, gaining less than 2 points to 7,474.82.
The S&P 500 future rose 0.2%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average future rose 0.1%.
Chinese benchmark indices rose on Friday on reports that the government is planning new measures to support the ailing real estate sector, which has been a serious drag on growth in recent years.
Real Estate Stocks Boosted by Sunac China Holdings Announcement that it has made “considerable progress” in restructuring $9.1 billion of its $11 billion in foreign debt. More than a third of the total was originally due to expire by the end of the year.
Hong Kong trading of Sunac shares was suspended on April 1. But shares of other major property developers soared. Country Garden Holdings rose 8.5% and shares of China Vanke rose 5.6%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 2.3% to 19,900.87 while the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.3% to 3,206.95.
The relaxation of some of China’s “zero-COVID” rules it’s also raising hopes that the economy will pick up momentum, though experts say it will take months for tourism and other businesses to recover from disruptions from the pandemic.
While outside experts have increasingly criticized China’s containment policy, which sought to isolate each case, as unsustainable, they also warned that the country will now face a challenging first wave, as the relaxed measures will no doubt fuel a surge in cases.
“Asian stocks are a bit higher, but the full exuberance has been tempered by rising COVID cases and skepticism about the strength of the economic reopening implied by the current level of Asian risk assets,” Stephen said. Innes of SPI Asset Management in a comment. .
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index gained 1.2% to 27,901.01 and Seoul’s Kospi rose 0.8% to 2,389.04. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.5% to 7,213.20.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.8%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed up 1.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.5% and the small-cap Russell 2000 Index added 0.6%.
The major indices are all in the red for the week and have been swinging between big monthly gains and losses throughout the year. Investor concerns about inflation, rising interest rates and recession risks have created a volatile market. That has also left Wall Street focused on data points about the economy, especially those related to inflation.
Activision Blizzard lost 1.5% after the Federal Trade Commission said it is suing to block Microsoft’s planned acquisition of the video game company for $69 billion, saying it could suppress competitors for its Xbox game consoles and growing game subscription business. Microsoft rose 1.2%.
On Thursday, the US reported that slightly more Americans filed for unemployment last week., but not as many as economists had predicted. The labor market remains one of the strongest pockets of the economy, which has been stifled under the weight of stubbornly high inflation and rising interest rates.
In addition to Friday’s wholesale price update, the University of Michigan will release its consumer confidence survey for December.
Resilient consumer spending, which is partly linked to strong employment, has made it harder to fight inflation, raising the risks that the Federal Reserve will go too far in raising interest rates. At the same time, it has kept the economy strong enough to avoid recession.
The Fed will meet next week and is expected to raise its benchmark interest rate, which is now between 3.75% and 4%, the highest in 15 years, by half a percentage point.
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In other trading, benchmark US crude oil gained 94 cents to $72.40 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It settled 0.8% lower at $71.46 a barrel on Thursday.
Brent crude added 87 cents to $77.02 a barrel.
The US dollar fell to 136.17 Japanese yen from 136.69 yen. The euro rose to $1.0564 from $1.0556.
