EQUITIES
Shares in Asia-Pacific rose in Friday trade following heavy losses in the previous trading day. Mainland Chinese stocks traded in positive territory as the Shanghai composite climbed about 0.35% while the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumped 1.15%.
South Korea’s KOSPI gained 0.97%, the Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rising 1.24%, and In Southeast Asia, the Straits Times index gained 0.50%.
The Nikkei 225 bucked overall trends, to decline 0.14%.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 170.64 points to 36,236.47 while the S&P 500 shed about 0.1% to 4,696.05. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.13% to about 15,080.87.
OIL
0il prices rose on Friday on escalating unrest in OPEC+ oil producer Kazakhstan and supply outages in Libya.
Investors had concerns about limited production following a state of emergency in Kazakhstan, a major oil producer, following protests against an increase in fuel prices, while production in Libya has dropped to 729,000 bpd, down from a high of 1.3 million bpd last year, partly due to pipeline maintenance work.
The Brent now traded at $82.49 per barrel, and U.S. crude futures traded at $80.11 per barrel. Brent and WTI were on track to post a 6% gain in the first week of the year, with prices at their highest since late November.
Overnight, the Brent futures ends at $81.99 a barrel, while the WTI crude oil prices closed to $79.46 per barrel.
CURRENCIES
The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes was last at 1.714% having reached 1.7530% overnight, its highest since April 2021, up sharply from its 2021 close of 1.5118%. The yield advanced as investors fretted over the Fed's more hawkish stance, surging inflation and a deluge of supply.
The dollar index also traded steady, was at 96.194 — holding above levels below 96 seen earlier this week.
GOLD
Gold inched up on Friday, though still hovering close to a two-week low hit in the previous session, with stronger yields capped bullion's gains. The precious metal was all set for its worst weekly fall since late November, down about 2%.
Spot gold was up marginally to $1,792.50 per ounce and U.S. gold futures was up 0.2% to $1,792.40.
Spot silver inched 0.2% lower at $22.15 an ounce, platinum rose 0.57% to $966.20, and palladium was flat at $1,873.50.
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
Shares in Asia-Pacific rose in Friday trade following heavy losses for some regional markets in the last two trading day, as investors continue to assess the impact of a potentially faster-than-expected policy tightening by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Markets were spooked earlier in the week and fell sharply after minutes from the Fed’s December meeting showed officials at the central bank ready to aggressively dial back policy help.
Investors will now look ahead to a key U.S. jobs report on Friday, which will follow new eurozone inflation data that the European Central Bank will watch closely. The U.S. jobs data due would reinforce the need for faster U.S. interest rate hikes.
Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese real estate firms fell in Friday trade after Reuters reported that developer Shimao Group defaulted on a trust loan, renewing concerns over the sector. Shimao shares in Hong Kong plunged 16.1% while China Evergrande Group fell 2.42% and Sunac dropped 5.05%. The Hang Seng Properties index traded 0.98% lower.
