Most Asian stocks snapped a five-day drop after Chinese inflation beat expectations, boosting optimism about the strength of the world’s second-largest economy.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.2 percent to 138.2 as of 4:03pm in Hong Kong, paring its decline this week to 1.7 percent.
Taiwanese shares fell 0.6 percent on Friday to close at 9,165.17. The TAIEX also fell 1 percent from last week’s close of 9,265.81.
Photo: AFP
Japan’s TOPIX closed up 0.4 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced 1 percent.
The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.1 percent.
Thailand’s SET Index jumped 4.1 percent, the most since 2013, as the government signaled the late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s only son will take the throne.
China’s producer prices last month rose for the first time since 2012, surprising economists who had forecast a decline, while consumer prices also gained more than estimated.
That gave a boost to stocks that had been in retreat on the prospect of a US interest-rate increase this year.
“The turn up in China PPI is indicative of receding deflation risks globally,” said Shane Oliver, Sydney-based head of investment strategy at AMP Capital Investors Ltd. “It’s another sign that global deflation is fading. Today’s data was certainly a lot stronger than I thought it would be.”
China’s producer-price index rose 0.1 percent last month from a year earlier, the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday, compared with a 0.3 percent drop estimated by economists in a Bloomberg survey.
The consumer-price index rose 1.9 percent, while analysts had forecast a 1.6 percent increase.
Years of deflation for China’s factories has abated as global commodity prices recover and domestic demand stabilizes on the back of past stimulus.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index closed little changed and New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 Index climbed 0.2 percent.
South Korea’s KOSPI added 0.4 percent, Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.2 percent
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index increased 1.1 percent and the Jakarta Composite Index was up 1 percent.
Additional reporting by CNA
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