By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Asia Pacific stocks were up Friday morning, as raised hopes for an economic recovery from COVID-19, boosted by a U.S. pledge to double its vaccine plan, helped to end the week on a high note.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.63% by 11:06 PM ET (3:06 AM GMT) as the Tokyo Core Consumer Price Index (CPI), released earlier in the day, slowed its annual pace of decline for a third consecutive month. The CPI fell 0.1% in March, a small drop that the 0.2% fall in forecasts prepared by Investing.com and above February's 0.3% drop.
South Korea’s KOSPI gained 0.70% and in Australia, the ASX 200 was up 0.44%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.92%.
China’s Shanghai Composite rose 1.18% and the Shenzhen Component rose 1.17%. U.S.-China tensions were on investors’ radars as U.S. President Joe Biden warned that China would not be the most powerful country on his watch during his first news conference since taking office.
The World Bank’s East Asia and Pacific Economic Update also said that China is expected to lead the economic recovery of East Asian and Pacific economies from COVID-19 in 2021. The report predicts that China’s economy will expand by 8.1% in 2021, compared with 2.3% in 2020.
Global shares hovered near record highs as signs of economic recovery from COVID-19 continue to emerge.
In the U.S., weekly jobless claims fell to a one-year low of 684,000, down from the 781,000 claims filed during the previous week and the 730,000 claims in forecasts prepared by Investing.com. Further data on personal spending in February is due later in the day.
Biden also doubled the U.S. vaccination rollout plan, after reaching the previously set goal of 100 million shots more than a month ahead of schedule.
Meanwhile, ten-year U.S. Treasury yields saw small gains after a muted auction of seven-year notes on Thursday.
“The markets are stuck in a lull where they are still taking some direction from the move in interest rates... at this point, we’re trying to get some more news globally that will be the next catalyst,” Verdence Capital Advisors director of portfolio strategy Megan Horneman told Bloomberg.
Investors will also continue to keep a wary eye on the dollar, which edged down on Friday morning but was near four-month highs.
“The dollar is absolutely critical... if the dollar starts rallying, that becomes a problem. It means commodity weakness and emerging-market weakness and it starts to provide a disinflationary countervailing narrative,” Aberdeen Standard Investments investment director James Athey told Reuters.