BANGKOK – Asian shares started the week with solid gains after Wall Street closed its dreary February on a brighter note.
Upbeat Chinese factory data also lifted sentiment, helping to start trading in March on a strong note.
Following its $444 million IPO, Chinese bubble tea chain Mixue Bingcheng experienced a 40% surge in its shares in Hong Kong. This remarkable achievement was accompanied by reports indicating a local record in subscriptions surpassing 1 trillion Hong Kong dollars ($128 billion).
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 1.2% to 23,222.88 while the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.3% at 3,332.27.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 advanced 1.4% to 37,662.14.
South Korean markets were closed for a holiday, while the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia gained 0.6% to 8,220.80.
Taiwan’s Taiex sank 1.4%, while the in Bangkok, the SET fell 0.7%.
In February, surveys conducted among Chinese factory managers revealed positive indicators as new orders demonstrated an increase. The growth in new orders was attributed to companies expediting their processes to preempt the escalating tariffs on exports to the United States. The Trump administration has raised import duties on Chinese goods to 20%, prompting companies to act swiftly.
Market movements on Friday showcased a significant uptick in key indices. The S&P 500 surged by 1.6% to reach 5,954.50, the Dow Jones Industrial Average saw a 1.4% increase, closing at 43,840.91, and the Nasdaq composite experienced a notable 1.6% jump to settle at 18,847.28.
The S&P 500 had dropped in five of the prior six days after weaker-than-expected reports on the economy and worries about President Donald Trump’s tariffs knocked the index off its all-time high set last week.
Stocks that flew in the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology have slumped sharply and Bitcoin dropped more than 20% from its record.
On Friday, Nvidia rose 4% following its 8.5% tumble Thursday and was the strongest force lifting the S&P 500. Early Monday, Bitcoin was trading at $92,760 after trading around $84,000 on Friday.
Stocks rose following an economic report that included both positives and negatives. Inflation across the country cooled a bit as economists had expected, according to the measure that the Federal Reserve prefers to use. That’s good news for the entire market because it could give the central bank leeway to continue cutting its main interest rate at some point later this year.
The Fed has been keeping rates on hold so far this year after cutting them sharply late last year, in large part because of concerns about potentially stubborn inflation.
Friday’s report also said U.S. households pulled back on their spending during January, likely undermining a major engine that has been staving off a recession despite high interest rates.
Inflation is still high, even if it’s not as bad as its peak from 2022, and a widespread worry is that tariffs and other policies announced by Trump could push prices for the cost of living even higher.
Wall Street hopes that all the talk about tariffs are merely a tool Trump is using to negotiate with other countries and that he’ll ultimately pull back on them, which would mean less pain for the global economy than initially feared.
But recent reports have nevertheless shown all the talk has already pushed U.S. consumers to brace for much higher inflation in the future. At some point, such worries could drive their behavior, which could drag on the economy even without tariffs.
All the uncertainty around not only tariffs but also deregulation and other potential moves could mean “if the market doesn’t see Trump moving towards more market-friendly policies, the level of trust could continue eroding,” Bank of America economists wrote in a BofA Global Research report.
Of course, much of January’s drop in spending by U.S. households could have been the simple result of painfully cold weather around the country and other anomalies. But it also followed several signals of slowing growth for the U.S. economy, which closed 2024 running at a solid pace.
In other dealings early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil picked up 42 cents to $70.18 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, was up 43 cents at $73.24 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar fell to 150.46 Japanese yen from 150.72 yen. The euro rose to $1.0420 from $1.0402.
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