Majority of the Asian stock markets are currently experiencing a hike on Friday, echoing the optimism radiating from across the globe in the wake of the overnight reports hinting towards a possible decrease in US jobless claims. This positive news led to speculation among traders about the likelihood of the US Federal Reserve's interest rates going down by September. However, traders are also exercising caution in anticipation of the upcoming report on US consumer sentiment for May, which will provide insight into inflation expectations.
Rebounding from its losses in the previous session, Australia’s stock market is noticeably on the rise on Friday, supported by affirmative worldwide market indicators from last night. The S&P/ASX 200, the benchmark index, is maintaining above the 7,700 level. This bullish trend is propelled by advances across most sectors, predominantly within the mining, energy, and technology sectors, in sync with the surge in commodity prices.
Currently, the S&P/ASX 200 Index is registering a considerable gain of 33.00 points or 0.43 percent, boosting its standing to 7,754.60 points, from the earlier record of 7,765.80. The All Ordinaries Index has also made significant strides, rising with an increment of 33.50 points or 0.42 percent to reach 8,027.70 points. Conversely, the Australian markets ended at a significantly lower position on Thursday.
On Friday, the Australian dollar's value is recorded at $0.660 in the currency market.
The Japanese stock market, following the similar trend, is concurrently showing significant improvements on Friday, revitalizing itself from the losses experienced over the past two days. The lead index, Nikkei 225, is currently treading above the 38,300 level. This increase in value touches upon most sectors including index heavyweights and financial stocks, that contributed immensely to the overall upward trend.
However, the nation's household spending had dropped by 1.2 percent on a yearly basis in March, outperforming forecasts of a 2.3 percent decline. On the other hand, household spending saw a 1.2 percent rise on a monthly basis. The average monthly household income in Japan stood at 513,734 yen, marking a decrease of 0.1 percent year on year.
In terms of current account surplus for March, Japan noted a 44 percent increase from the previous year to reach 3.398 trillion yen, according to the country’s Ministry of Finance. Despite this fell short of the anticipated surplus of 3.489 trillion yen, it denotes an increase from February’s 2.644 trillion yen.On Friday, the U.S. dollar demonstrated a strong performance in the currency market, trading in the higher 155 yen-range.
Meanwhile, in Asia, the majority of markets, including Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, and Taiwan, exhibited increases anywhere between 0.1 and 0.9 percent. However, New Zealand and China suffered small decreases of 0.1 and 0.4 percent, respectively. Indonesia's market was closed in observance of Ascension Day.
In the U.S, Wall Street showed progress on Thursday, bouncing back after two consecutive lackluster sessions. The Dow, in particular, extended its winning streak to seven sessions, achieving its highest closing level in over a month.
By day's end, the major averages fell slightly short of their session highs; the Dow surged 331.37 points or 0.9 percent to 39,387.76, the S&P 500 advanced 26.41 points or 0.5 percent to 5,214.08, and the Nasdaq increased by 43.51 points or 0.3 percent to 16,346.26.
Europe also saw positive movement in its major markets. The German DAX Index jumped by 1.0 percent, the French CAC 40 Index escalated by 0.7 percent, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index ascended by 0.3 percent.
In the oil sector, crude oil prices increased on Thursday, stimulated by a positive outlook for demand and recent data that showed a significant decrease in U.S. crude inventories from the previous week. Specifically, the West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June experienced a $0.27 spike, closing at $79.26 a barrel.
