Most Asia-Pacific markets rebound after sell-off as investors assess Tokyo CPI, await U.S. inflation data

Lim Hui Jie

Key Points

• Tokyo’s headline inflation slowed slightly to 2.2% in July from 2.3% in May, while its core inflation rate — which strips out prices of fresh food — remained unchanged at 2.2%, in line with expectations.
• The U.S. personal core expenditure index reading for June, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, will be released late Friday.

Asia-Pacific markets mostly rebounded Friday, after Thursday’s sell-off saw some indexes in the region hit their lowest level in months.

In Asia, traders assessed July inflation data out of Japan’s capital city of Tokyo, which is widely considered a leading indicator of nationwide trends.

Tokyo’s headline inflation slowed slightly to 2.2% in July from 2.3% in May, while its core inflation rate — which strips out prices of fresh food — remained unchanged at 2.2%, in line with expectations.

The so called “core-core” inflation rate, which strips out prices of fresh food and energy and is watched by the Bank of Japan, fell to 1.5% from 1.8%.

The yen will also be closely watched, after it strengthened sharply against the dollar in the past week. The currency is currently trading at 153.79 against the greenback.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 traded close to the flatline, while the Topix was up 0.25%.

Chipmaker Renesas Electronics fell for a second straight day, plunging over 6% on Friday to lead losses in the index. This brought its share price to its lowest level since April.

Renesas saw a 29% drop in net profit for the first half of the year, with Nikkei reporting that President Hidetoshi Shibata admitted that the firm “misjudged demand for industrial equipment.” Unlike most Japanese companies, Renesas’ financial year starts on Jan. 1.

The sell-off on Thursday resulted in 760 billion yen ($4.9 billion) being wiped off its market capitalization in a single day.

Some Japanese automakers also fell, with Nissan down 3.92% after announcing dismal results for its first quarter ended June 30. Operating profit collapsed over 99% year on year, while net profit tumbled 72.9%.

Separately, Reuters reported that Honda will shutter a factory in China and halt production at another plant, intending to start producing more electric vehicles. Honda shares gained 0.91% on Friday.

Taiwan’s markets returned to trade after being closed for two days due to a typhoon, with the Taiwan Weighted Index plunging 3.33%.

Heavyweights Hon Hai Precision Industry — known as Foxconn internationally — and chip manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company lost 4.71% and 5.52% respectively.

South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.62%, while the small cap Kosdaq was flat.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.92%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index climbed 0.17%, while the mainland Chinese CSI 300 was also trading close to the flatline.

Separately, Singapore’s monetary authority announced that it will keep its monetary policy steady, with no changes to its exchange rate settings for the Singapore dollar.

Unlike most economies, Singapore does not use interest rates to control its monetary policy, instead opting to use exchange rate settings to control the strength of the Singapore dollar.

Over in the U.S, traders continued to rotate out of tech, with the S&P500 and Nasdaq Composite extending their losses by 0.51% and 0.93% respectively on Thursday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2%.

“There’s a changing of the guard happening on Wall Street. The AI stocks that led on the way up are now leading on the way down,” said Adam Sarhan, CEO of 50 Park Investments, adding that these movements are not uncommon during a bull market “great mini rotation.”

Source : cnbc