Japan Stocks Drive Asian Markets Higher Following US Retail Data Boost on Wall

Japanese stocks led the charts in Asia markets, following one of Wall Street’s best days of the year.

Sophia Cruz•Friday, August 16, 2024•1 min read

In today’s trading, Asian markets showed gains, driven by strong performance in Japanese stocks, as the US economy demonstrated unexpected resilience. The Nikkei 225 surged, with other major Asian indices also advancing. This rally follows a notable rebound on Wall Street, spurred by positive economic data. Oil prices declined, and investors are anticipating potential interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve in September.

Japan Stocks Drive Asian Markets Higher Following US Retail Data Boost on Wall

Japanese stocks led the charts in Asia markets, following one of Wall Street’s best days of the year, buoyed by data indicating the US economy is faring better than expected, particularly due to robust consumer spending. US futures were higher, while oil prices continued to drop.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 is set to close a week of gains, surging 2.9% to 37,800.42. This rebound follows last week’s selloff, triggered by the Bank of Japan’s interest rate hike, which prompted investors to engage in “carry trades” to sell dollar assets to cover higher costs. The yen weakened against the dollar throughout the week.

On Thursday, Chinese data revealed a slowdown in industrial production and a rise in unemployment for July, although consumer spending slightly exceeded analysts’ expectations. Despite this, markets in Hong Kong and Shanghai saw gains on Friday.

The Hang Seng index had a strong start, rising by 1.7% at 17,397.64 while the Shanghai Composite is up by 0.1% at 2,880.05

Despite reporting a nearly 30% drop in quarterly profit on Thursday, Chinese tech giant Alibaba saw its stock surge in Hong Kong after recording gains in New York. Alibaba, which operates some of China’s most popular e-commerce platforms, is often viewed as a barometer of the broader economy.

Markets in Singapore, Seoul, Sydney, Taipei, Manila, and Jakarta also recorded healthy gains in early trading.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR See More

Sophia Cruz

Financial Writer - Asian & European Desks

Sophia is an experienced writer, reporter and newsdesk member, mostly on the financial sectors. For the past 5 years Sophia has covered a wide variety of topics such as the financial markets, economics, technology, fin-tech and trading. Sophia has been a part of the FX Leaders team since 2017 and works on producing valuable content and information for traders of all levels of experience.