Asian markets rise mostly after Wall Street tech rally

Macau – often called the Las Vegas of Asia – has added another luxury casino resort to the Cotai Strip, this time British themed called The Londoner Macau.

The $2 billion complex is home to replicas of UK’s iconic buildings. They include the Palace of Westminster, the official residence of the British Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street, and the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain, among other London landmarks.

“What we’re trying to do is build hotels that work in tandem. Gamers want to come, and non-gamers come here to shop or go to the spa for three days. So we’ll be in business for three days, and they never have to go to the casino,” Las Vegas Sands CEO Robert Goldstein told CNBC.

Shares of Las Vegas Sands are up more than 16% year-to-date.

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— Charmaine Jacob

Singapore’s manufacturing output fell 6.9% year-on-year in April, a steeper drop than the 4.4% expected by economists polled by Reuters.

Production, excluding biomedical manufacturing, fell 6.1% from the same period last year.

In April, the transportation engineering cluster recorded the biggest jump, with output up 14.5% year-on-year. In contrast, the biomedical manufacturing cluster recorded the largest decline, with output down 11.1%.

Singapore’s manufacturing sector, which accounts for more than 20% of Singapore’s economy, contracted 5.6% in terms of GDP in the first quarter and is expected to see a deeper slowdown, its commerce ministry said on Thursday. and Industry.

—Lim Hui Jie

Malaysia’s headline inflation rate eased slightly to a 3.3% year-on-year increase in April from 3.4% in March.

This was Malaysia’s lowest inflation rate since May 2022. The country saw its inflation rate peak in August 2022 at 4.7% — April marked the sixth month of falling inflation rates.

The country’s statistics department said the increase in consumer prices in Malaysia was still mainly due to rising prices in restaurants and hotels as well as food and non-alcoholic beverage prices, which rose 6.6% and 6.3% respectively.

However, this average inflation rate was lowered by transport prices, which rose at a slower pace of 2.3% compared to 2.4% in March.

—Lim Hui Jie

India is less affected by a slowdown in the West than other countries, says India’s largest private lender HDFC Bank.

“Well, first of all, theoretically every country in the world will face any impact of any slowdown in the West,” Keki Mistry, vice president and CEO of HDFC Bank, said on CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Friday. .

But the impact on India “will be much less” than the impact on other countries like China, he said. HDFC Bank is also the eleventh largest bank in the world by market capitalization with $119.91 billion.

“It’s because India is largely a national economy and as long as we can create jobs – which we have done very successfully year after year – and people have money, they spend money, they consume, and the demand for goods and services increases.”

As a result, manufacturers need to produce more and hire more people to keep up with the increased production, which in turn creates more jobs, Mistry said.

—Sheila Chiang

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo raised concerns about recent actions against U.S. companies operating in China during a meeting with her Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao, the Commerce Department said in a statement.

“Secretary Raimondo also raised concerns about the recent spate of PRC (People’s Republic of China) actions taken against U.S. companies operating in the PRC,” the report said.

“The two men had candid and substantive discussions on issues related to the U.S.-China trade relationship, including the general environment in the two countries for trade and investment and areas of potential cooperation,” he said. he declared.

The meeting comes as China reportedly conducted inspections on US audit firms in China for national security breaches.

—Jihye Lee

Australian retail sales were flat month-on-month in April, lower than the 0.2% rise expected by economists polled by Reuters and the 0.4% rise recorded in March.

However, on an annual basis, retail sales increased by 4.2%, according to government data.

AMP deputy chief economist Diana Mousina said the slowdown in retail spending reflects rising interest rates and high inflation leading to lower consumer spending.

The latest reading “gives the RBA the opportunity to keep interest rates stable (and elevated) and assess the impacts of previous rate hikes,” Mousina wrote in a Friday note.

She added that there was “no urgency” for the RBA to raise the exchange rate at the next meeting in June, and that she does not expect further hikes in this cycle.

Mousina noted that while retail sales figures primarily reflect spending on goods, spending on consumer services has also been strong, although both measures are expected to slow in Australia in 2023.

She also pointed out that job growth, home loans, building approvals, retail spending and consumer and business confidence indicators are all weakening in Australia, and inflation is falling without signs of wage evasion.

—Lim Hui Jie

Core inflation in Japan’s capital rose 3.2% year-on-year in May, government data showed, slower than the 3.5% rise seen in April.

Tokyo’s consumer price index excluding fresh produce was below economists’ forecast of 3.3% in a Reuters poll. Headline inflation also increased by 3.2%.

Tokyo’s core consumer price index, which excludes both fresh food and fuel costs, rose 3.9%, the fastest year-on-year pace since April 1982, according to government data.

—Jihye Lee

The central bank of Indonesia kept its 7-day repo rates at 5.75% for the fourth consecutive month, while maintaining its deposit facility rate at 5% and its lending facility rate at 6, 5%.

Bank Indonesia said the decision was “consistent with the monetary policy stance” to control core inflation within a range of ±1% from 3% this year and bring headline inflation back within the same range in the third quarter of 2023.

Indonesia’s consumer price index for April fell to 4.33% from 4.97% in March, while core inflation slowed from 2.94% in March to 2.83 % in April, within the central bank’s target range.

—Lim Hui Jie

Parts of the market are in overbought territory, but Morningstar’s Dave Sekera says some stocks the company is bullish on are still trading below its fair value estimates.

They include a tech giant and a major US bank.

CNBC Pro subscribers can learn more here.

—Weizhen Tan

Earnings season is over and Goldman Sachs has identified three stocks with major upside potential.

In the first quarter, the investment bank said, investors focused on global consumer health and post-pandemic growth balanced with higher margins. However, going forward, he expects investors to focus on larger companies with profitable business models.

Based on their first quarter results, Goldman expects the shares of three companies it has identified to rise more than 75%.

CNBC Pro subscribers can learn more here.

—Ganesh Rao

Boston Federal Reserve Chair Susan Collins thinks the central bank will stop raising interest rates.

In a speech Thursday to graduates of the Community College of Rhode Island, Collins said she saw “signs of moderation” in inflation that could negate the need for future hikes.

“I think we may be at or near the point where monetary policy can put interest rate hikes on hold. This will provide an opportunity to more fully assess the impact of the measures taken to date and the general tightening of credit conditions on economic activity,” she said in prepared remarks.

Market prices, however, have changed, with the expectation now that the Fed will hike a quarter of a percentage point by the July meeting.

—Jeff Cox

Congressional leaders and President Joe Biden were close to a preliminary agreement to raise the debt ceiling on Thursday, according to a Reuters report citing people familiar with the matter.

Progress between Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is pinned at $70 billion in discretionary spending, the report said.

—Brian Evans

The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 ended higher on Thursday as tech stocks rallied on the heels of a strong quarterly report from Nvidia.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 1.71% to settle at 12,698.09, while the S&P climbed 0.88% to end at 4,151.28. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 35.27 points, or 0.11%, to end at 32,764.65.

— Samantha Subin