Most of the Asian indicators were up 1%. The exceptions were China's Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen Composite, which lost 0.03% and 0.33% respectively, as well as Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index, down 0.1%. All other indices showed gains. The Australian S&P/ASX 200 index increased by 0.22%, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index rose by 0.61%, the Korean KOSPI soared by 0.6%.
One of the reasons for the rise in Asian indicators was the increase in US indices to 1.5% the day before. Today we expect the data on consumer price growth in the first month of the new year. According to experts, the inflation rate is projected to decline to 6.2% from December's 6.5%.
If these projections come true, the US Federal Reserve could take this as evidence that monetary policy was conducted correctly, which included repeated interest rate hikes. A slowdown in inflation could be a reason to put rate hikes on pause.
The growth of Japan's Nikkei 225 was restrained by the latest statistics on economic growth. Thus, Japan's GDP in the last quarter of the previous year rose by 0.6% year-on-year, although it was forecasted to increase by 2%. Overall, the country's economic growth over the past year was 1.1% compared to an increase of 2.1% in 2021.
Among the components of the Japanese indicator, the biggest gains were seen in Renesas Electronics, up 4.1%, Lasertec, up 2.9%, Tokyo Electron, up 1.7%, Keyence and Nippon Steel, which gained 1.1% each, as well as Sumitomo Mitsui and Nintendo, increasing by 1% each.
The companies of the Shanghai Composite index showed mixed performance. Zhonghang Electron gained 16%, Tongfu Microelectronics rose by 5.5%, and 360 Security Technology soared by 5.2%. At the same time, stocks of Tianyu Digital lost 9.1%, iFLYTEK dropped by 2.9%, and Contemporary Amperex fell by 1.3%.
The decline of the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index was contributed by a 1.8% drop in Alibaba stocks, while AIA Group stocks were up 0.3%.
The Korean KOSPI increased as stocks of Hyundai Motor rose by 1.4%, as well as Samsung Electronics gained 0.8%.
The components of the Australian S&P/ASX 200 index were trading mixed. Xero and Wisetech Global added 2.2% and 2.1% respectively, CSL gained 1.7%. Endeavour Group and Sonic Healthcare jumped by 1.1% and 1% respectively.
At the same time, Rio Tinto was down 0.7% and BHP Group dropped by 0.3%.