Asian equities rebounded on Thursday from their worst sell-off in two weeks, following the trend of US markets, as investors considered the prospect of big interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.
As of 9:35 AM (Thai Time), the Japanese Nikkei 225 has gained 0.34%. The Japanese yen was last trading at 143 per dollar following a reported “rate check” by the Bank of Japan.
The Kospi in South Korea rose by 0.17% and the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia climbed 0.63%.
The Hang Seng advanced 0.39% while the Shanghai Composite dropped 0.44%.
With data showing US producer prices decreased for a second month, investors are taking a breather following the surprise of consumer-price figures, which pushed investors to boost their rate-hike bets.
On Bloomberg TV, Nancy Tengler, CEO and CIO of Laffer Tengler Investments, said, “I think you want to begin to inject risk back into your portfolio.”
“I do think, despite the CPI number we got the day before yesterday, we are approaching or at peak inflation, and historically it has always been appropriate and good for your portfolio if you added to equities when we hit peak inflation,” she added.
In China, the central bank kept its one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) unchanged at 2.75%, as expected. The unemployment rate in Australia in August was 3.5%, up little from July’s 3.5%.
