(Photo by Allan Ajifo [CC BY 2.0)
KEEPING SCORE: The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.3 per cent to 3,133.61 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.1 per cent to 22,898.96. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 1 per cent to 18,945.06 and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 lost 0.8 per cent to 5,609.90. India’s Sensex advanced 0.3 per cent to 27,114.11 and Seoul’s Kospi was unchanged at 2,065.94. Jakarta declined while other Southeast Asian benchmarks rose. New Zealand also gained.
TRUMP ON TRADE: Trump has rattled businesspeople in Japan, China and other major U.S. trading partners who worry about his promises to restrict commerce and shift jobs back to the United States. Trump’s inauguration speech Friday repeated those themes but gave no additional details. A Chinese state-run newspaper, the Global Times, said “dramatic changes” lay ahead for the global economic order.
ANALYST’S TAKE: “Trump’s inauguration speech really offered nothing new for investors to latch on, besides harping on old themes of economic ‘carnage’ that will be stopped,” said Mizuho Bank in a report. “His implication that previous U.S. policies did not put America first sounds misguided, and thus any reversal of policy could well prove to be more negative than not,” it said. “The next 100 days would likely keep markets tense on any announcements as his policy platform is likely to see a large discontinuity from previous U.S. policy bias.”
WALL STREET: Major stock indexes pulled back slightly as Trump delivered his first remarks as president on Friday but recovered to end higher, snapping a five-day losing streak for the Dow Jones industrial average. A crop of encouraging company earnings news helped lift the market. The Dow rose 94.85 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 19,827.25. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 7.62 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 2,271.31. The Nasdaq composite index added 15.25 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 5,555.33. Despite Friday’s gains, the three major stock indexes ended the week lower.
CHINA UPTICK: China’s economic growth ticked up in the final quarter of 2016 but the full-year expansion was the weakest in three decades. The world’s second-largest economy grew 6.8 per cent over a year earlier, up from 6.7 per cent the previous year. For the full year, the economy grew 6.7 per cent, down from 6.9 per cent in 2015 and the weakest since 1990’s 3.9 per cent. Growth was supported by government spending and a real estate boom. Economists said the temporary upturn was unlikely to last and a renewed slowdown should emerge in coming quarters.
ASIA’S OUTLOOK: Investors looked ahead to quarterly economic growth data from South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines. Taiwan was forecast to accelerate on the strength of a recovery in export-led manufacturing. Political turmoil in South Korea has added to factors that are expected to depress growth.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude shed 10 cents to $53.12 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, the contract jumped $1.10 to close at $53.22. Brent crude, used to price international oils, retreated 6 cents to $55.43 in London. It soared $1.33 the previous session to close at $55.49.
CURRENCY: The dollar declined to 113.69 yen from Friday’s 114.53. The euro gained to $1.0740 from $1.0702.