Asian Shares Recover from Nearly Two-Week Lows

By Investors Hub

Asian stocks recovered from nearly two-week lows on Tuesday even as underlying sentiment remained cautious amid renewed concerns over U.S. interest rate hikes and ahead of a potential meeting in Beijing between officials from the world’s two largest economies.

Chinese stocks rose the most in two months after a top decision-making body of the ruling Communist Party said the country would strive hard to achieve this year’s economic targets in the face of rising global trade tensions.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index jumped 60.59 points or 2 percent to close at 3,128.60, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index surged up 381.84 points or 1.3 percent to 30,636.24.

Japanese shares rose sharply as a weaker yen on the back of increasing bond yields in the U.S. helped lift exporters. The Nikkei 225 Index advanced 190.08 points or 0.6 percent to 22,278.12, and the broader Topix Index rallied 18.96 points or 1.1 percent to finish at 1,769.75.

Honda Motor, Toyota and Panasonic climbed around 2 percent, while lender Mitsubishi UFJ Financial rallied 2.5 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial jumped 2 percent.

Australian shares rose, led by banks after data showed consumer prices stayed soft last quarter. Consumer prices in Australia were up 0.4 percent sequentially in the first quarter of 2018, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said. That was shy of expectations for 0.5 percent and down from 0.6 percent in the three months prior.

Separately, a weekly survey compiled by ANZ Bank and Roy Morgan Research showed that Australian consumer confidence improved for the second straight time during the week ended April 22nd.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index climbed 35.60 points or 0.6 percent to 5,921.60 while the broader All Ordinaries Index rose 33.40 points or 0.6 percent to 6,009.40.

The big four banks rose between 0.7 percent and 1.1 percent as the focus of the Royal Commission inquiry shifted away from the banks to a particular fund manager.

Meanwhile, mining stocks fell on an extended slide in aluminum prices. Fortescue Metals Group declined 2.4 percent, Rio Tinto shed 2.6 percent and South32 plunged 9.6 percent. Wealth manager AMP fell 2.6 percent to extend recent heavy losses.