Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/SINGAPORE: Asian equities rose to a fresh seven-month high, with Hong Kong shares playing catch-up to other markets’ gains as trade resumed after its three-day Lunar New Holiday.
MSCI’s broadest index Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed by 0.56 percent to 555.81. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was 1.6 percent higher. Japan’s Nikkei was, however, 0.25% lower.
Trading was thin with Australia closed for a holiday and certain parts of Asia, including China, still away for the Lunar New Year.
Shares Scale
Traders betting that the U.S. Federal could soon tone down its aggressive rate hike policy got a lift after the Bank of Canada became the first central bank to say it could likely hold off on further rises for now.
After the series of super-sized rate hikes the previous year, the U.S. central bank is now largely expected to raise rates by a more minor 25 basis points next week on signs that inflation is cooling.
Saxo strategists said that “the US GDP release today could be of key interest to gauge whether the market expectations shifting in favour of the soft landing rather than a recession can continue to hold,”. The prospect of less aggressive pace in monetary tightening has stoked expectations of a so-called soft landing, the scenario in which inflation eases against a backdrop of weakened but resilient economic growth.
