HONG KONG — Asian stocks were mixed on Friday, with the Japanese yen shedding some of its gains after the latest US update on inflation boosted Wall Street’s confidence that interest rate relief could come as early as September.
US futures and oil prices rose.
The US dollar lost 2.1% against the yen overnight, hitting a low of 157.43 yen, fueling speculation that Japanese authorities may have intervened to amplify the impact of softer US inflation figures. It recovered some of the losses on Friday, rising to 159.19 yen from 158.80 yen.
The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo lost 2.5% to 41,190.68.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 2.4% to 18,260.91 and the Shanghai Composite index rose less than 0.1% to 2,971.81 after data showed China’s exports rose 8.6% in June, beating market expectations.
Australia’s S&The P/ASX 200 rose 0.9% to 7,959.30. South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.4% to 2,851.96.
Elsewhere, Bangkok’s SET rose slightly, 0.2%. Taiwan’s Taiex fell 2%, while Taiwan Semiconductor lost 1.9%. The company had earlier risen after reporting revenue rose nearly 33% in June compared with the same period last year, but followed Wall Street tech giants lower.
On Wall Street, four out of five stocks in the S were down overnight&The P 500 index climbed, though Nvidia, Microsoft and a handful of other high-profile companies fell. influential companies masked that underlying strength. Those giants were the market’s biggest winners amid a frenzy over artificial intelligence technology that left critics saying they had become too expensive, and they helped the S&P500 fell 0.9% from its all-time high a day earlier.
The declines for Big Tech stocks also caused the Nasdaq Composite to fall 2% from its own record. The declines snapped a seven-day winning streak for both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which places less emphasis on technology, rose 32 points, or 0.1%.
The direction was clearly up for the majority of stocks on Wall Street, particularly housing companies, real estate owners and others that benefit from lower interest rates. SBA Communications, which owns towers and other sites used for wireless communications infrastructure, rose 7.5% for the biggest gain in the S&P 500.
The day’s action was even stronger in the bond market, where yields tumbled as traders bet on the Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates soon its key interest rate. It has been at its highest level in more than two decades for almost a year.
Wall Street wants lower interest rates to ease the pressure that has built up on the economy because of the high cost it has become to borrow money to buy housescars or anything else on credit cards. Fed officials, have said They want to see “more good data” on inflation before taking action.
Wall Street saw in Thursday’s report a milder-than-expected rise in prices from a year earlier for gasoline, cars and other items U.S. consumers bought in June, which was just that.
Treasury yields immediately fell after the report was published. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.20% from 4.28% on Wednesday evening and from 4.70% in April. That is a big step for the bond market and provides a big boost for stock prices.
All in all, the S&The P 500 fell 0.9% to 5,584.54. The Dow rose 0.1% to 39,753.75 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 2% to 18,283.41.
In other trading, benchmark U.S. crude rose 57 cents to $83.19 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, rose 43 cents to $85.83 a barrel.
The euro rose from $1.0865 to $1.0866.