Asian equities are largely trending upward this Friday, shrugging off the previous night's negative developments from Wall Street. This rally is driven by notable gains in materials and energy sectors, as metal and crude oil prices remain robust. An unexpected decrease in U.S. weekly jobless claims has likely bolstered confidence in the Federal Reserve's cautious approach to adjusting interest rates. On Thursday, Asian markets closed mostly lower.
In Australia, the stock market is experiencing a notable rise on Friday, building on gains from the previous day, despite broadly negative signals from Wall Street overnight. The S&P/ASX 200 Index is advancing past the 8,200 mark, buoyed by gains in gold mining and technology sectors, with iron ore miners being the sole area of weakness.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index is up by 43.60 points, or 0.53%, to reach 8,244.80, after peaking at 8,249.90 earlier. Similarly, the All Ordinaries Index has gained 43.30 points, or 0.51%, reaching 8,508.30. Australian shares had already closed significantly higher on Thursday.
Concerning major miners, BHP Group, Rio Tinto, and Mineral Resources are each slightly down by 0.5%, while Fortescue Metals has dipped nearly 1%.
The oil sector is generally on the rise. Woodside Energy and Beach Energy are both up almost 1%, while Santos has increased by over 1%. Origin Energy remains unchanged.
In the tech sphere, Block (the owner of Afterpay), WiseTech Global, and Xero have risen between 0.2% to 0.5%, while Zip is up 1.5%, and Appen has increased by nearly 1%.
Within the major financial institutions, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, and National Australia Bank are all up by nearly 1%, with ANZ Banking edging up 0.4%. Gold mining stocks are mostly enjoying gains, with Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources up more than 2% each, while Resolute Mining and Gold Road Resources have added nearly 3% each. Newmont is advancing by over 3%.
In other developments, Paladin Energy shares have surged almost 8% following an increase in voting power by substantial shareholder JPMorgan Chase & Co, from 6.48% to 7.55%.
In currency markets, the Australian dollar is trading at $0.621.
The Japanese stock exchange is closed for the New Year holidays on Friday. Japanese shares had fallen sharply on Monday before the start of the holiday break.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar is hovering in the lower 157-yen range as of Thursday.
Elsewhere in Asia, markets in South Korea and Hong Kong have risen by 1.9% and 1.1%, respectively. Markets in China, Singapore, Indonesia, and Taiwan are up by between 0.1% and 0.6%, whereas New Zealand and Malaysia have seen declines of 0.5% and 0.2%, respectively.
On Wall Street, stocks surged notably early in Thursday's session but couldn't maintain the momentum, leading to fluctuations throughout the day. The major indices oscillated above and below the baseline in morning trading before slipping deeper into negative territory by early afternoon, only to recover some ground later in the session.
The major indices eventually ended the day with slight losses. The Dow fell by 151.95 points, or 0.4%, to 42,392.27; the Nasdaq declined by 30.00 points, or 0.2%, to 19,280.79; and the S&P 500 decreased by 13.08 points, or 0.2%, to 5,868.55.
In Europe, key markets all finished on an upward trajectory. The FTSE 100 in the UK climbed by 1.1%, Germany's DAX Index rose by 0.6%, and France's CAC 40 Index saw a 0.2% gain.
Crude oil prices settled higher on Thursday, buoyed by optimism over oil demand prospects from the world's second-largest economy and a reported drop in U.S. crude stockpiles for the week ending December 27. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures ended the day up by $1.41, or approximately 2%, at $73.13 per barrel.
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