Apple suppliers, earnings, currencies, oil, Wall Street
SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific traded higher Friday after a rally on Wall Street. That followed a negative U.S. gross domestic product report, which suggests the Fed would be less aggressive in its tightening cycle.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.27% while the Topix index was about flat.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.6% and the Kosdaq advanced 0.56%.
The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia was up 0.4%.
Singapore’s United Overseas Bank reported net profit of 1.1 billion Singapore dollars ($797 million) for the second quarter, up 11% from a year ago.
“Net interest income grew 18% year on year led by strong margin improvement and healthy loan growth,'” the company said in a statement.
Thailand’s market is closed for a holiday Friday.
U.S. moves
Major U.S. indexes rallied at least 1% each overnight.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 332.04 points, or 1%, to 32,529.63. The S&P 500 rose 1.2% to 4,072.43, and the Nasdaq Composite added nearly 1.1% to 12,162.59.
U.S. futures rose further after tech companies like Apple and Amazon reported strong earnings.
Those moves came despite the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reporting GDP fell 0.9% at an annualized pace for the April-to-June quarter, according to the advance estimate. GDP slipped 1.6% in the first quarter of the year.
While that is the second-straight negative GDP report, official declarations on whether the U.S. is in a recession come from the National Bureau of Economic Research. That determination could take months or even longer.
Currencies
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 106.214.
The Japanese yen traded at 134.41 per dollar, strengthening from earlier in the week. The Australian dollar is trying to reach the $0.7 level and was last at $0.6998.
