Asian Stocks Climb on Eased Recession Worries, Positive China Inflation Data

Asian stock markets saw gains on Friday as fears of an imminent U.S. recession eased, bolstered by mildly encouraging inflation data from China, which lifted investor sentiment.

However, despite the upbeat session, regional markets were still on track to post weekly losses, having experienced steep declines earlier in the week.

Asian stocks benefited from a positive handover from Wall Street, where better-than-expected jobless claims data suggested that the U.S. labor market might not be in as much trouble as initially feared. U.S. stock index futures also saw a slight uptick during Asian trading hours.

Chinese Markets Lag Behind Despite Positive CPI Data

China’s Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite indexes each rose by 0.3%, though they underperformed compared to other Asian markets. Both indexes were down approximately 0.8% for the week, marking their third consecutive week of losses.

China’s inflation data showed some signs of improvement. The consumer price index (CPI) rose more than expected, while the producer price index (PPI) contracted at a slower pace than anticipated. This suggests that the series of interest rate cuts by the People’s Bank of China in July may be beginning to yield results. However, it remains uncertain whether these measures will be enough to reverse China’s broader deflationary trend.

Investor sentiment towards Chinese markets has deteriorated in recent weeks, driven by a series of weak economic indicators. As a result, the country’s benchmark indexes are hovering near six-month lows.

Japanese Stocks Rally, Recovering Weekly Losses

Japan’s Nikkei 225 and TOPIX indexes surged by 2% and 1.5%, respectively, on Friday. While both indexes were still on track to lose about 1.5% for the week, they managed to recover a significant portion of their earlier losses.

The rebound in Japanese markets followed efforts by Bank of Japan officials to downplay the central bank’s unexpectedly hawkish stance from the previous week. Bargain hunting in major tech stocks and strong earnings reports from companies like Tokyo Electron, which rose 1.7% after posting better-than-expected quarterly earnings, also supported the recovery.

Broader Asian markets also advanced, with tech-heavy indexes such as South Korea’s KOSPI and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rising between 1.5% and 2%. These gains mirrored the rebound seen in U.S. markets.

Australia’s ASX 200 gained 1.4% but remained down 1.9% for the week, having clawed back most of its earlier losses.

Futures for India’s Nifty 50 index indicated a slightly positive open after the index, along with the BSE Sensex 30, fell on Thursday. The decline followed the Reserve Bank of India’s unexpectedly hawkish stance and a slight downgrade in its growth outlook for the current quarter.