Category Archive

Lim Hui Jie

KEY POINTS

• Investors will be watching Australia’s inflation data on Wednesday, after the country’s central bank said it discussed raising interest rates at its last meeting.
• Should inflation come in higher than expected and spur the RBA to raise rates, it would be the first major Asia-Pacific central bank to do so in an environment where investors are waiting for rate cuts, barring Japan.

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Charmaine Jacob@IN/CHARMAINEMARIAJACOB@CHARMAINEMJACOB & Lim Hui Jie

KEY POINTS

• Japan’s headline inflation rate rose to 2.8%, higher than April’s figure of 2.5%. The core inflation rate — which strips out prices of fresh food — came in lower than expected at 2.5%.
• The S&P 500 pulled back after surpassing the 5,500 mark on Thursday.

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Charmaine Jacob@IN/CHARMAINEMARIAJACOB@CHARMAINEMJACOB & Lim Hui Jie

KEY POINTS

• China kept its one- and five-year loan prime rates unchanged at 3.45% and 3.95% respectively.
• New Zealand’s economy exited a technical recession, growing 0.2% quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of the year, beating Reuters poll expectations of a 0.1% expansion.

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Lim Hui Jie & Charmaine Jacob@IN/CHARMAINEMARIAJACOB@CHARMAINEMJACOB

KEY POINTS

• Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose, with the Taiwan Weighted Index crossing the 23,000 mark to hit an all-time high.
• Traders in Asia assessed Japan’s trade data for May, which showed exports grew 13.5% year on year, while imports grew 9.5% during the same period.

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Lim Hui Jie

KEY POINTS

• The RBA held its benchmark interest rate at 4.35% for its fifth straight meeting, saying that inflation “remains above target and is proving persistent.”
• The S&P 500 closed at a fresh record of 5,473.23, adding 0.77%.

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Lim Hui Jie

KEY POINTS

• The Bank of Japan kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Friday, but indicated it’s considering the reduction of its purchase of Japanese government bonds.
• Overnight in the U.S., the S&P 500 rose to post a fourth consecutive record close as traders weighed more data showing inflation pressures may be easing.

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Lim Hui Jie

KEY POINTS

• The Fed only projects one rate cut this year, down from three, but raises the number of total projected rate cuts to four in 2025.
• Asia markets tracked gains on Wall Street following the Fed decision, with all major markets in the green.

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Lim Hui Jie

KEY POINTS

• China’s May inflation rate came in at 0.3%, missing expectations of 0.4% from a Reuters poll.
• Japan’s corporate goods inflation rate accelerated to 2.4% in May, beating expectations and marking its fastest rate of increase since August.

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By Wayne Cole

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Asian stocks were in a guarded mood on Tuesday as investors pondered fresh political uncertainty in European markets after right-wing gains in elections and a snap poll in France revived concerns about the cohesion of the bloc.

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Lim Hui Jie

KEY POINTS

• Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Monday after a stronger-than-expected jobs report in the U.S. on Friday revealed hiring and wage growth picked up in May.
• A few Asian markets are closed for a holiday Monday, including Australia, mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
• This week in Asia, investors will be looking at Japan’s first-quarter gross domestic product numbers on Monday, followed by the Bank of Japan’s rate decision on Friday.

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