Hong Kong stocks jump 5% as Asia-Pacific markets rise after U.S. inflation report

Lee Ying Shan

Hong Kong stocks jumped more than 5% as shares in the Asia-Pacific rose after the release of U.S. inflation data in October raised investor hopes that inflation has peaked.

The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index rose 5.30% with the Hang Seng Tech index rising 7.12%. In mainland China, the Shenzhen Component added 1.839%, while the Shanghai Composite

Index gained 1.64%.

Hang Seng index pops at open

Softbank is slated to report its second quarter earnings later in the day and Hong Kong’s revised third quarter GDP is scheduled to be released.

Overnight on Wall Street, stocks saw their biggest rally in two years after October’s reading of consumer price index, which inched up just 0.4% for the month and 7.7% compared to last year, marking a lowest annual increase since January.

TICKER	COMPANY	NAME	PRICE	CHANGE	%CHANGE
.N225	Nikkei 225 Index	*NIKKEI	28198.07	751.97	2.74
.HSI	Hang Seng Index	*HSI	16924.27	843.23	5.24
.AXJO	S&P/ASX 200	*ASX 200	7136	172	2.47
.SSEC	Shanghai	*SHANGHAI	3073.57	37.44	1.23
.KS11	KOSPI Index	*KOSPI	2465.78	63.55	2.65
.FTFCNBCA	CNBC 100 ASIA IDX	*CNBC 100	7425.38	395.02	5.62

— Sarah Min, Alex Herring contributed to this report

Hong Kong movers: Alibaba, JD.com, Tencent soar at open

Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese technology companies popped in early Asia trade as the broader Hang Seng Index briefly added more than 6%.

Tech giants Alibaba and JD.com soared 7.94% and 10%, respectively. Tencent added 9.16%, and Meituan gained 12.26%.

— Lee Ying Shan

Currency check: Japanese yen, Chinese yuan at strengthened levels

The Japanese yen and Chinese yuan hovered around strengthened levels after the U.S. dollar index fell more than 1% overnight on a softer-than-expected inflation report.

The yen stood at 141.63 against the greenback, hovering around the strongest levels it’s seen in two months before weakening past 150 in October.

The onshore yuan was around 7.18, also trading near its strongest levels to the dollar in nearly a month.

— Jihye Lee

Asia-Pacific indexes pop at open after U.S. inflation report

Indexes in the Asia-Pacific sharply rose in early trade after the release of U.S. inflation data in October came in softer than expected

South Korea’s Kospi popped more than 3%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 2.46%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 2.89%.

— Lee Ying Shan

CNBC Pro: Bitcoin will fall further, says fund manager — until this one catalyst kicks in

Bitcoin is down by 75% from its all-time high, and a cryptocurrency exchange is on the brink of bankruptcy. In such an environment, a bond fund manager reveals the one thing that’s needed for prices to rally.

Michael Howell from Cross Border Capital also said that due to the missing catalyst, there’s an increased risk of investors getting in a “bit too early.”

— Ganesh Rao

CPI rises less than expected

The U.S. consumer price index — a broad measure of inflation — rose by 0.4% in October from a month ago. On a year-over-year basis, the CPI rose 7.7%.

Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a month-over-month gain of 0.6% and a year-over-year advance of 7.9%.

Excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called core CPI increased 0.3% for the month and 6.3% on an annual basis, compared to respective estimates of 0.5% and 6.5%.

— Jeff Cox

Dollar index on pace for worst day since Dec. 2015

The U.S. dollar slid Thursday against a basket of other currencies as investors cheered October’s CPI report coming in weaker than expected, signaling that inflation may have peaked.

The dollar index shed 2%, putting it on pace for its worst daily performance since Dec. 4, 2015. If the index falls more than 2.1%, it will hit levels not seen since 2009.

This week, the dollar index is down 2.3% and is on pace for its worst week since March 2020.

—Carmen Reinicke

Biden to raise concerns about Xi’s relationship with Putin ahead of G-20 summit

President Joe Biden is expected to discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week in a face-to-face meeting.

The meeting between the two leaders, the first since Biden ascended to the U.S. presidency, will take place ahead of the G-20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia.

“I think the president will be honest and direct with President Xi about how we see the situation in Ukraine with Russia’s war of aggression,” a senior Biden administration official told reporters on a call.

“This is a topic that the president and President Xi have spoken about several times before. They spoke about it extensively in March in their video call and then they spoke about it again in July, so it’s part of an ongoing conversation between the two of them,” added the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

— Amanda Macias

Source : CNBC