Asian equities ended the week largely on positive after Federal Reserves of U.S setting a clear path for rates hike for the rest of the year and Beijing setting policies favorable for economic recovery and a robust financial market.
The CSI300, KOSPI and TOPIX closed inching up by 0.67%, 0.46% and 0.54% respectively, while SET and HSI close mangily down by 0.19% and 0.41% respectively.
The Bank of Japan maintained its massive stimulus on Friday and has emphasized on risk from Ukraine crisis on its economy.BOJ remained dovish and will remain an outlier on tightening monetary policy. Earlier U.S. Federal Reserve and Bank of England raise interest rates to tame down inflation which is running over their target range.
BOJ maintained its short-term rate target at -0.1% and that for the 10-year bond yield around 0% at the two-day policy meeting that ended on Friday.
Meanwhile, Russian sovereign bonds escaped default after JPMorgan Chase & Co. has processed funds of coupon payments due on dollar bonds issued by the Russian government and has been sent to the Citigroup Inc. of amounting $117 million, accordion to Bloomberg.
Russia said major progress in negotiations talk over Ukraine was “wrong”. However, Moscow expressed interest in continuing discussion.
President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are due to discuss the war later Friday. The Biden administration is concerned that Xi may be moving closer to supporting Moscow. The U.S. president will warn of “costs” if China backs Russia, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
Crude oil pared price level below $100 a barrel and extended gains with WTI trading near $104 a barrel and Brent near $107 a barrel.
