Japan and Singapore miss GDP expectations; Asia markets rebound after Wednesday sell-off

Asia-Pacific markets rebounded after mostly falling on Wednesday after hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation data stoked concerns the Federal Reserve might keep interest rates higher for longer.

On Thursday, investors assessed gross domestic product readings from Japan and Singapore, as well as trade numbers from South Korea.

Japan’s GDP for the fourth quarter fell 0.4% on an annualized basis, a sharp miss from the 1.4% growth expected by economists polled by Reuters.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, it slipped 0.1%, compared with a 0.3% rise expected in the Reuters poll.

Singapore saw its fourth-quarter GDP grow 2.2% year on year, lower than the 2.5% expected. The city state also revised its third-quarter GDP growth rate from 2.8% to a sharply lower figure of 1%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 opened 0.84% higher, briefly surpassing the 38,000 mark despite the missing GDP expectations, while the broad-based Topix climbed 0.55%.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 started the day up 0.9%, snapping a three-day losing streak.

South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.67%, while the small-cap Kosdaq was 0.6% higher.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 15,931, pointing to a stronger open compared with the HSI’s close of 15,879.38.

Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes also regained some ground after Wednesday’s sell-off following hotter-than-anticipated inflation reading as traders fretted that the Federal Reserve may not cut interest rates as early as they had hoped.

The S&P 500 advanced 0.96%, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.4%.

Read More: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/15/asia-markets.html