Asia-Pacific markets largely climbed, bolstered by a slew of China’s economic data for August that were better than market expectations.
China’s August retail sales and factory output beat expectations, but the print for fixed asset investment came in slightly below expected. Home prices slipped 0.1% in August from the year before.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rebounded to rise 1% in its final hour, but mainland markets fell, as the CSI 300 lost 0.66% and closed at 3,708.78, dragged lower by utility stocks.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 1.1% to close at 33,533.09, its highest level in over two months. Should the Nikkei breach the July 3 level of 33,753.33, it will set a new 33-year high for the index.
The Topix continued to push fresh 33-year highs, gaining 0.95% and ending at 2,428.
Most notably, shares of investment holding company Softbank surged over 3% after Arm, the chip design firm it controls, advanced almost 25% on its Nasdaq debut.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.29% to end at 7,279, marking its highest gain since July 13.
South Korea’s Kospi advanced 1.1% to close at 2,601.28, its highest since August 10, while the Kosdaq was near the flatline at 899.03.
Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes ended higher as core producer price index in the U.S. climbed by 0.2% in August, in line with expectations.
The overall producer price index increased a seasonally adjusted 0.7%, higher than the 0.4% estimate and the biggest monthly gain since June 2022.
The Dow notched its best day since Aug. 7 , climbing 0.96%. The S&P 500 gained about 0.84%, while the Nasdaq Composite moved 0.81% higher.
Source : CNBC