BANGKOK – Asian shares advanced Friday after the latest tumble on Wall Street, where the S&P 500 fell to its lowest level in five months.
U.S. futures gained and oil prices were more than $1 higher as the Israeli military said its troops and tanks had briefly entered northern Gaza.
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Japan’s Nikkei 225 index gained 1.1% to 30,948.49 as an unexpectedly high reading for consumer inflation in Tokyo raised hopes the central bank might finally end its longstanding near-zero interest rate policy.
Tokyo core consumer inflation, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, rose 2.7% in October, the Statistics Bureau reported Friday. As a leading indicator of nationwide trends, it suggests a broader trend of rising prices.
Chinese shares also halted their recent slide as the government reported that profits at China’s industrial firms extended gains for a second month in September, rising nearly 12%, following policy measures to help stabilize the slowing economy.
Industrial profits rose 17.2% in August in the first expansion in more than a year.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 2.1% to 17,403.03, setting the market up for a winning week, and the Shanghai Composite index added 1.1% to 3,019.72.
The Kospi in Seoul gained 0.2% to 2,302.81. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.2% to 6,826.90. Taiwan’s Taiex was 0.4% higher and Bangkok’s SET was nearly flat.
Wall Street retreated Thursday, dropping nearly 10% below its high mark for the year, after big-name companies warned an uncertain global economy may hurt their profits.
The S&P 500 fell 1.2% for its ninth drop in 11 days, closing at 4,137.23. Another steep fall for Big Tech dragged the Nasdaq composite down 1.8% to 12.595.61. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 0.8% to 32,784.30.
Meta Platforms was among the market’s heaviest weights, sinking 3.7% even though the parent company of Facebook and Instagram reported fatter profit and revenue for the summer than analysts expected.
Investors may have been spooked by the company’s warning that it’s seen some initial softness in advertising due to the latest Israel-Hamas war, and analysts said the company gave a wider range than it has in the past for its forecast of upcoming revenue.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.85%, from 4.96% late Wednesday, after reports showed the U.S. economy continues to storm ahead despite much higher interest rates that have already lashed the stock market.
A preliminary estimate suggested the U.S. economy’s growth accelerated during the summer to 4.9%. That was more than economists expected. A separate report indicated the U.S. job market remains remarkably solid, with relatively few layoffs across the country.
Thursday’s reports showed the U.S. economy clearly is not in a recession. But investors are more concerned about what will happen rather than what has passed, and worry that a solid economy could continue to push prices higher. That could push the Fed to keep rates high for a long time to curb inflation.
Higher interest rates could mean eventual weakness for the economy and corporate profits. And high bond yields make investors less willing to pay high prices for stocks and other investments.
Treasury yields have spurted higher as they catch up with the main interest rate controlled by the Federal Reserve, which is at its highest level since 2001.
In the near term, traders overwhelmingly expect the Federal Reserve to hold rates steady at its next meeting, which ends Wednesday. That would mark a second straight meeting where the Fed did not hike its main interest rate, which it has pulled above 5.25% from nearly zero early last year.
Even better-than-expected profits from big U.S. companies haven’t been enough to arrest Wall Street’s recent slide.
The majority of companies in the S&P 500 have been topping analysts’ profit expectations for the summer, and the hope is that they’ll report their first overall growth in a year. But several big-name companies fell Thursday following disappointing results or forecasts for upcoming trends.
In other trading Friday, U.S. benchmark crude gained $1.34 to $84.55 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gave up $2.18 on Thursday.
Brent crude, the international standard, added $1.26 to $88.31 a barrel. It shed $2.07 on Thursday.
The dollar fell to 150.24 Japanese yen from 150.39 yen. The euro fell to $1.0559 from $1.0565.