Asia stocks rise but still set for August losses; PCE data awaited

Asian stocks rose on Friday as technology stocks recovered from Nvidia-induced losses, while month-end bargain buying saw Chinese shares rebound from more-than six-month lows. 

But most regional markets were still headed for a loss in August, as they struggled to recover from debilitating losses clocked at the beginning of the month. 

Asian markets took some positive cues from Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose to a record high on buying in economically sensitive stocks, while losses in NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA ), following a middling outlook, pulled down the S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite .

But these losses now appeared to be easing, as was a rout in the broader tech sector. Nvidia rose in aftermarket trade, as did U.S. stock index futures. 

Focus was squarely on PCE price index data from the U.S., due later on Friday. The print is the preferred inflation gauge of the Federal Reserve, and is likely to factor into expectations for interest rate cuts.

Optimism over lower rates helped Asian markets trim some of their August losses, as traders began pricing in, with certainty, that the Fed will cut in September.  Chinese stocks rebound from over 6-mth lows, Hong Kong outperforms

China’s Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite indexes rose 1% and 0.5%, and were among the better performers for the day, although they were still set to lose between 3% and 4% in August. 

Chinese markets benefited chiefly from some month-end bargain buying, as local markets were walloped by persistent capital outflows through August. They were also by far the worst performers in Asia for the month. 

But Hong Kong stocks vastly outperformed their Asian counterparts this month, with the Hang Seng index rising 1.1% on Friday and remaining on track for a 2.6% gain in August. 

Strong earnings from several technology heavyweights spurred a wave of bargain buying into the sector through August, with analysts seeing several major Chinese internet names trading at attractive discounts.  Japan, S.Korea head for August losses; India, Australia resilient

Japan’s Nikkei 225 and TOPIX indexes rose about 0.7% and 0.6%, respectively.

Inflation data from Tokyo read slightly higher than expected for August, signaling that private spending was strengthening further amid higher wages. But industrial production and retail sales data for July missed expectations.

While Japanese stocks did recoup a bulk of their early-August losses, which saw them enter a bear market, the Nikkei and TOPIX were still set to lose more than 1% each in August. 

South Korea’s KOSPI rose 0.6% on Friday as technology stocks recovered from losses in the prior session. But an extended rout in the sector, through most of August, put the KOSPI on course for a 3.3% loss this month.

Australia’s ASX 200 rose 0.4% and was set for limited losses in August as flows into more economically sensitive sectors- such as banks and miners- benefited Australian markets.

Futures for India’s Nifty 50 index pointed to a positive open, after the index and the BSE Sensex 30 blew past their global peers to hit record highs on Thursday. The two were also trading up 0.8% and 0.4%, respectively, for August, as optimism over India’s economic prospects drove buying into local markets. 

Source: Investing.com