HONG KONG (Reuters) – Asian stock markets were generally positive on Tuesday after Chinese exports grew strongly in March and imports rebounded, leaving investors feeling that domestic demand is improving as part of the pandemic recovery.
MSCI’s widest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan was up 0.4% on Tuesday after opening less than 0.1% higher.
In Australia, the S & P / ASX200 went against the regional trend and was flat, while Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.1% in the afternoon session.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index added nearly 1%, while the mainland blue chip CSI300 index rose 0.5% and held ground following the release of March trade figures.
South Korea’s KOSPI 200 index doubled its early gains to 1%.
Chinese exports in dollars are up 30.6% in March from a year earlier, while imports are up 38.1% compared to the same time last year, figures released Tuesday showed.
Imports grew the fastest in four years, indicating a recovery in Chinese domestic demand after the pandemic, according to analysts.
“China is benefiting from the soaring first in first out recovery, but the global economy is also accelerating and picking up and that will weaken some of China’s export performance in the coming quarters,” said John Woods, Credit Suisse’s principal investment in Asia -Pacific. officer.
The trade data helped reverse a weaker tone previously evident in Asia following overnight declines on Wall Street.
In the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 55.2 points, or 0.16%, to 33,745.4, the S&P 500 lost 0.81 points or 0.02% to 4,127.99, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 50 , 19 points, or 0.36%, to 13,850.00.
Eric Rosengren, president of Boston Federal Reserve Bank, said on Monday that the US economy could see a significant recovery this year due to looser money and fiscal policies, but the country’s job market was still facing weakness.
He said that with inflation still below the central bank’s 2% target, the current “highly accommodative” monetary policy stance remains appropriate.
US inflation data for March will be released later in World Day.
The dollar rose from near a three-week low against major rivals on Tuesday, supported by a surge in government bond yields, as traders waited for the long-awaited inflation data.
Sat Duhra, Singapore portfolio manager at Janus Henderson Investors, said he expected inflation spikes to be temporary and a long period of steady growth and low inflation to come after a rapid resurgence of the pandemic. He also expects the rotation from growth and momentum stocks to value-based stocks to continue.
“The spread between equity and bond returns is still respectable and very interesting,” said Duhra.
“The gap in valuations between growth and value stocks is so wide that there is one more way to continue. It’s not just because of rotation. “
The 10-year benchmark return was 1.6943% for the Asian session, below the 14-month high of 1.776% reached on March 30.
Reporting by Scott Murdoch in Hong Kong; Edited by Stephen Coates and Simon Cameron-Moore