Asian stocks up after Fed boss calms nerves over rates

Asian equities have been frequently up Friday following a tumultuous trading period on Wall Street, but analysts said the outlook remained bleak as inflation, the Ukraine battle and Chinese lockdowns weigh on sentiment.

World markets have been risky for plenty of 2022, with investors fretting approximately supply chain snarls due to China’s Covid curbs and as Europe weighs slicing out Russian oil over Moscow’s invasion.

The Federal Reserve last week announced its largest rate hike since 2000 to slow surging inflation and signaled that similar increases were likely in the coming months — a possibility that sent stocks on a rollercoaster.

But after Fed chief Jerome Powell on Thursday said the United States was not actively considering a steeper 75-basis-point move, markets experienced a bounce in Asia.

“Asia-Pacific equities are staging a relief rally today after Wall Street stabilized late in the session as Jerome Powell calmed nerves over potential 0.75 percent rate hikes,” said Jeffrey Halley of OANDA.

However, he warned that the positive showing should be taken with a grain of salt.

“Nothing has materially changed in the world from yesterday, and if anything, Russia/Europe risks are increasing,” he said.

“The rally today looks more like a technical rebound after a torrid week than a structural turn in sentiment.”

After a bruising day on Wall Street — with the Dow falling for the sixth straight session — Asian equities were higher Friday. Japan and Hong Kong closed with a two percent bump.

Frankfurt, London, and Paris all opened better as nicely, whilst oil remained up, with America benchmark crude WTI buying and selling at greater than $106 a barrel.

“Such intraday volatility and sentiment flip-flopping are indicative of anxious traders and in itself, a bearish signal,” stated Lewis Grant of Federated Hermes Limited.

“As long as the war continues and macro pressures persist, it is likely that both energy names and value stocks will remain relative safe havens for fully-invested, long-only equity investors.”

Cryptocurrencies also saw great volatility this week. Bitcoin on Thursday tumbled below $27,000 — its lowest level since late 2020 — but by Friday its value was holding steady above $30,000.

Its crash was fuelled by the collapse of two so-called “stablecoin” cryptocurrencies — TerraUSD and Tether — which proved to be anything but stable, leaving investors panicked.

While the digital currency market had stabilized by Friday, Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said “the seven-day moves in some of the ‘other crypto experiments’ on monster volume are insane and increasingly difficult to watch”.

Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 2.7 percent at 19,898.77 (close)

Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.9 percent at 3,084.28 (close)

London – FTSE 100: UP 1.3 percent at 7,331.28

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 2.6 percent at 26,427.65 (close)

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.7 percent at $106.86 per barrel

Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.9 percent at $108.36 per barrel

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0404 from $1.0382 at 2100 GMT Thursday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2205 from $1.2199

Euro/pound: UP at 85.26 pence from 85.08 pence

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 128.82 yen from 129.97 yen

New York – Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 31,730.30 (close)