Asian Shares Surge On Upbeat Chinese Factory Data

Bangkok: Asian shares started the week with solid gains after Wall Street closed its dreary February on a brighter note.Upbeat Chinese factory data also lifted sentiment, helping to start trading in March on a strong note.

In Hong Kong, Chinese bubble tea chain MixueBingcheng’s shares soared 40 per cent after its $444 million IPO. Local reports said it set a local record for subscriptions, which exceeded 1 trillion Hong Kong dollars ($128 billion). Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 1.2 per cent to 23,222.88 while the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.3 per cent at 3,332.27. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 advanced 1.4 per cent to 37,662.14. South Korean markets were closed for a holiday, while the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia gained 0.6 per cent to 8,220.80. Taiwan’s Taiex sank 1.4 per cent, while the in Bangkok, the SET fell 0.7 per cent.

Surveys of Chinese factory managers showed signs of improvement in February as new orders rose, likely driven by companies moving quickly to beat rising tariffs on exports to the United States, where the administration of President Donald Trump has boosted import duties on Chinese goods to 20 per cent.

On Friday, the S&P 500 jumped 1.6 per cent to 5,954.50. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.4 per cent to 43,840.91, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 1.6 per cent to 18,847.28. The S&P 500 had dropped in five of the prior six days after weaker-than-expected reports on the economy and worries about President Donald Trump’s tariffs knocked the index off its all-time high set last week. Stocks that flew in the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology have slumped sharply and Bitcoin dropped more than 20 per cent from its record.

On Friday, Nvidia rose 4 per cent following its 8.5 per cent tumble Thursday and was the strongest force lifting the S&P 500. Early Monday, Bitcoin was trading at $92,760 after trading around $84,000 on Friday. Stocks rose following an economic report that included both positives and negatives.

Inflation across the country cooled a bit as economists had expected, according to the measure that the Federal Reserve prefers to use.