Tokyo (awp/afp) – Chinese stock markets climbed on Friday on hopes of new stimulus measures after the publication in China of sluggish quarterly growth, while Tokyo finished slightly higher, helped by a strengthening of the dollar against the yen .
Around 5:15 a.m., the Shanghai composite index gained 2.93% to 3,262.17 points, while that of Shenzhen gained 4.35% to 1,911.57 points.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index climbed 3.13% to 20,708.29 points.
The Chinese markets were digesting in their own way the publication of the weakest quarterly growth in a year and a half, despite the government’s efforts to stabilize an economy weighed down by sluggish consumption and a real estate crisis.
The Chinese National Bureau of Statistics announced that the gross domestic product (GDP) had increased by 4.6% in the third quarter year-on-year, beyond the expectations of experts interviewed by AFP, but below the 4. 7% in the April-June period, and the weakest growth since the start of 2023.
This weakness strengthened the arguments in favor of a more significant boost from the Chinese government, which has already announced bursts of measures to stimulate activity, with the aim in particular of reaching the official objective of “around 5% ” growth for 2024.
In Tokyo, the flagship Nikkei index gained 0.18% to 38,981.75 points, representing a decline of 1.6% over the week as a whole.
The broader Topix index gained 0.04% to 2688.98 points.
The Japanese currency fell overnight from Thursday to Friday below the psychological bar of 150 yen to the dollar for the first time since the beginning of August, while operators are betting less and less on further monetary easing immediately in the States. -United.
The Japanese markets, which had declined the day before amid fears about the growth dynamics of the semiconductor sector, after the Dutch ASML had lowered its outlook for 2025, were also reassured by the publication of solid results from the Taiwanese giant TSMC.
The Japanese Disco, a manufacturer of precision tools for the production of chips, for its part took off by 7.67% after its optimistic financial forecasts formulated the day before.
“The pessimistic view of the semiconductor market appears to have eased for now, but it is likely that the global trend of export restrictions on advanced semiconductors will continue,” said Takuma Ikemoto, an analyst at market at Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Lab.
Oil prices were rising, after experiencing a slight technical rebound the day before in a market preoccupied by demand deemed insufficient.
Around 8:20 a.m., a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in December gained 0.68% to $71.15. The American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) with maturity in November gained 0.56%, to $74.87.
On the foreign exchange market, the yen recovered a little after the sharp rise in the greenback, to 149.89 yen per dollar around 8:30 a.m., compared to 150.21 yen on Thursday at 11:00 p.m.
afp/ck
