Asian stock indices continue to grow. The Chinese Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen Composite indices added 0.54% and 0.38% respectively. The Australian S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.24%. The Japanese Nikkei 225 index increased by 0.29%. The Korean KOSPI jumped by 0.38%. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index gained the most - 1.15%.
Traders are mostly positive due to the Chinese economy recovering prospects. Such expectations are associated with the abolition of restrictive measures since the beginning of this year in China. At the same time, the country is one of the world's largest exporters of various goods and commodities.
Therefore, even the decline in US indicators, caused by investor concerns about the possible onset of an economic downturn in the country and beyond due to too harsh monetary policy, could not affect the Asian indices.
The People's Bank of China left the benchmark interest rate for one-year loans unchanged at 3.65% and for five-year loans at 4.3%. These rates have remained unchanged for five months in a row.
The regulator also continues to provide funds to banks under the reverse repo program. This time, £62 billion was allocated to finance seven-day operations and £329 billion to finance 14-day operations.
The increase in the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index was most influenced by the growth of CNOOC, Ltd. by 5.2%, Meituan by 4.9%, Baidu, Inc. by 4.2% as well as Alibaba Group Holding, Ltd. and JD.com, Inc. by 3.4% and 2.9% respectively.
Meanwhile, Japan saw a 4% increase in inflation over the past month compared to the same period in 2021. This was an all-time high growth in this indicator for more than 40 years. However, this surge coincided with the expectations of analysts, who predicted an increase in consumer prices by 4%.
The indicator was also higher than the central regulator's target of 2%. In November 2022, it showed slightly less growth by 2.7%.
The Japanese indicator was boosted by the increase in the value of Taisei, Corp. securities, which added 4.5%, Mitsukoshi Holdings, Ltd. which rose by 3.8%, as well as J. Front Retailing Co. Ltd., which soared by 3.6%.
At the same time, shares of other companies declined slightly. Toyota Motor lost 0.8%, Tokyo Electron slid by 0.25%, and SoftBank Group decreased by 0.1%.
According to the latest statistical data, South Korea saw a 6% increase in producer prices in December 2022. This is the smallest increase in this indicator for more than a year and a half. For comparison, in November, this indicator increased by 7.2%. At the same time, on a monthly basis, there was a decrease of 0.2% in December.
The stock quotes of major Korean companies showed weak growth. Samsung Electronics, Co. and Hyundai Motor, Co. Ltd gained 0.3% each.
Among Australian companies, the increase in value was demonstrated by BHP securities, which rose in price by 0.5%, and Rio Tinto, which added 1%.
The share price of Whitehaven Coal, Ltd. increased by 6.2% at once, despite the fact that the company has reduced coal production. At the same time, it managed to increase its sales, while the price of its products remained high.