Major Asian stocks advanced by 0.58-2.39%. China's Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen Composite indexes gained the least, i.e. 0.67% and 0.58% respectively, while Korea's KOSPI added slightly more, i.e. 0.70%. Meanwhile, other regional indexes rose more than 1%: Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index increased by 1.56% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index went up 1.82%. Japan's Nikkei 225 was the top gainer, it added 2.39%.
As usual, Asia-Pacific stock indexes followed the US indexes in their dynamics. Therefore, the US indexes had risen by 2.4-3.1% on Tuesday due to positive corporate reports of the companies for the second quarter. Most experts issued rather weak forecasts on the companies' outcomes for the second quarter. However, their outcomes exceeded expectations, which supported the markets.
At the same time, concerns about a possible economic slowdown are still growing, despite the rise in stock prices and indexes.
China's central bank did not change the benchmark interest rate, it remained at 3.70% per annum for 1-year loans and at 4.45% per annum for 5-year loans. The central regulator also allocated 3 billion yuan, equivalent to 444.9 million US dollars, for reverse repo operations to support the economy.
Techtronic Industries Co. Ltd., Haidilao International Holding Ltd., Netease Inc. and Meituan were the top gainers among Chinese companies. They surged by 4.1%, 7.2%, 3.8%, and 3.0% respectively.
SenseTime Group Inc. stocks jumped by 11% due to their repurchase after their first offering by the company on the stock exchange.
Shares of Dentsu Group Inc., Minebea Mitsumi Inc., Advantest Corp., and Tokyo Electron Ltd. are major gainers among components of the Nikkei 225 index. They added 6.2%, 5%, 4.8%, 4.7% respectively.
Shares of major South Korean company LG Electronics Inc. rose by 1.3%, while the stocks of Samsung Electronics Co. dropped by 0.7%.
Megaport Ltd. stocks soared by 23% on strong reports for the second quarter.
The news about the appointment of a new CEO at Magellan Financial Group Ltd was the reason for an increase of its shares by 7%.
According to the report of the Reserve Bank of Australia Chairman, inflation is likely to increase in the second quarter. Therefore, special measures should be taken to achieve the target of 2-3%. In the first quarter, the country's consumer prices rose by 5.10% year-on-year. Official data for the second quarter will be released next week. The Reserve Bank of Australia Chairman also announced a possible future interest rate increase to 2.50% from the current level of 1.35%.
