Thank you for your participation. Hong Kong is on track for its best performance since 2018, leading the overall rally in Asia thanks to the rise of tech giants.
Hang Seng had an outstanding performance overnight, thanks to buying big stocks such as Alibaba and Jingdong.
5 things to start your day
1) Apple suffers from worst iPhone sales slump in three years | Decline comes as Chinese shoppers turn away from tech companies
2) Sir Mervyn King says inflation crisis was fueled by economic groupthink | Former Bank of England governor says CPI is at 40-year high due to lack of dissent
3) Oil company president accused of colluding with rivals to raise gasoline prices | US energy major executive banned from ExxonMobil board of directors over suspicion of collaboration with OPEC
Four) How Barclays became a lightning rod for Gaza activists | Banks face new wave of criticism after bowing to pressure from climate protesters
Five) Annabelle Denham: ‘Angela Rainer’s humiliation is a rare gift to Britain’ | Labour’s decision to water down its workers’ rights plan proves it never needed it in the first place
what happened overnight
Asian stocks generally rose ahead of a report on the U.S. job market while several major markets, including Tokyo and Shanghai, were closed for public holidays.
The Japanese yen rose slightly against the US dollar on signs of major central bank intervention.
Economic newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that estimates suggest the Bank of Japan is spending an estimated 8 trillion yen (about £42 billion) this week to prevent the yen from further weakening against the dollar.
While a weaker yen can be a boon for Japanese companies that derive much of their revenue overseas, large fluctuations in the foreign exchange market can wreak havoc on corporate plans, and sudden changes in the yen Low prices also raise the cost of importing oil and other vital goods.
The dollar is trading at $153.08, down from $153.65 late Thursday. The pound rose 0.2% to $1.255.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shares rose 1% to 18,301.11, tracking gains on Wall Street. News of new moves by Chinese leaders to revitalize the economy fueled buying in technology stocks.
E-commerce giant Alibaba rose 3.5%, while rival JD.com rose 4.2%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.7% to 7,637.00, while Seoul’s Kospi rose 0.2%. Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.8%.
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 major US companies rose 0.9% to 38,225.66, and the S&P 500 index rose 0.9% to 5,064.20. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.5% to 15,840.96.
U.S. Treasury yields have been volatile following Fed and economic data, with the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield falling to 4.583% from 4.591% late Wednesday.
