Following Wall Street highs, Asian markets rise

"Tomorrow's PPI (producer price index) will be closely watched by markets and should drive the near-term direction for the equity and bond markets."

Wall Street and European records helped Asian markets rise on Friday, as traders shrugged over the recession in Britain and Japan and the sluggish US retail sales.

European and US markets rose on Thursday, with the broad-based S&P 500 rising 0.6 percent to close at an all-time high with Paris and Frankfurt also seeing gains.

Despite official data indicating that the UK entered a recession at the end of last year, London shares gained as high inflation prolonged a crisis related to cost of living.

According to figures revealed on Thursday, Japan too experienced a recession towards the end of 2023, with Germany surpassing the Asian country as the world's third-largest economy.

According to Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management, however, Asian equities as a whole were expected to see "their fourth consecutive weekly gain, potentially marking the longest winning streak in over a year unless they experience an unlikely decline" of more than 1 percent on Friday.

Innes stated that "the regional and global interest rate environment remains supportive for risk markets" in spite of the recession's difficulties and the US retail sales declining more than anticipated in January.

The US Commerce Department said on Thursday that retail sales had decreased more than anticipated, by 0.8 percent following the Christmas break, which may indicate that consumer confidence has soured.However, Innes stated that "the broader dataset suggests a contrary narrative: if anything, the growth momentum in the US appears to have gained traction early in the year, building upon the strong performance witnessed in 2023."

Asian equities were largely down as a result of data released on Tuesday that showed the US consumer price index fell less than anticipated in January, dashing expectations of an early interest rate decrease by the Fed.

However, investors started purchasing again because they thought that later in the year, borrowing costs will go down.

On the strength of the previous two sessions, Hong Kong rose on Friday as investors anticipated the publication of fresh US inflation data later in the day.Chief technical strategist at Blue Chip Daily Trend Report Larry Tentarelli stated, Chief technical strategist at Blue Chip Daily Trend Report Larry Tentarelli stated,

Chief technical strategist at Blue Chip Daily Trend Report Larry Tentarelli stated, "Tomorrow's PPI (producer price index) will be closely watched by markets and should drive the near-term direction for the equity and bond markets."

Early trading centers included Tokyo, Sydney, Singapore, Seoul, Manila, Bangkok, and Wellington.

As Indonesia's election commission findings, with half of the ballots counted, revealed Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto was on track to win the country's presidential election by a big majority, Jakarta stocks also increased on Friday morning.