Asia-Pacific markets are mixed as investors assess inflation data from India and Japan

Asia-Pacific markets were mixed Tuesday as stocks on Wall Street fell overnight and the Dow Jones Industrial Average broke an eight-day winning streak.

 

Investors in Asia were assessing India's inflation figures. Data released Monday showed the consumer price index rose 4.83% year-on-year, nearly matching the 4.8% expected by economists.

 

India's wholesale inflation data is due to be released later in the day.

 

Data from the Bank of Japan showed that corporate inflation was stable in April from a year earlier, but import prices jumped 6.4% year-on-year last month, likely due to the yen's sharp depreciation.

 

Japan's Nikkei 225 index and the broader Topix index were up 0.46% and 0.25% respectively, ending trading at 38,356.06 and 2,730.95.

 

South Korea's Kospi rose 0.11% to 2,370.34, while the smaller Kosdaq added 0.9% to end at 862.15.

 

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.3% to end the day at 7,726.8.

 

Hong Kong's Hang Seng canceled gains and traded 0.1% lower, while mainland China's CSI 300 index fell 0.21% to close at 3,657.05.

 

Overnight in the U.S., traders struggled with rising inflation expectations ahead of key reports due later this week.

 

A New York Fed survey showed that consumers raised their expectations for higher prices last month. On an annualized basis, inflation expectations rose to 3.3%. Their five-year inflation forecasts rose to 2.8%.

 

The 30-fund Dow index fell 0.21%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.02%. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.29%.

 

Shares of the GameStop meme soared 74% after "Roaring Kitty," the name Reddit trader behind the 2021 "short squeeze," went online for the first time in three years.

 

Shares in Japanese investment group Softbank Group Corp rose more than 4% on Tuesday as the company's Vision Fund posted its first annual gain in 3 years.

 

Softbank earned JPY724.3 billion ($4.6 billion) in profits from its Vision Fund in the fiscal year ended March.

 

But for the full year, Softbank recorded a total loss of JPY227.6 billion), down from a loss of JPY970.1 billion in the previous fiscal year.

 

Revenue rose 2.8% year-on-year to 6.76 trillion yen, up from 6.57 trillion yen in the same period last year.

 

The company also declared a full-year total dividend of 44 yen per share and expects the same level of dividend in fiscal 2024.

 

- Lim Hui Jie, Arjun Harpal

Shares of Daiwa Securities Group fell more than 5% in early trading after the Japanese brokerage firm said it was looking to acquire a stake in Aozora Bank.

 

Aozora Bank shares jumped 5% before paring gains and trading about 0.1% higher in late morning trading.

 

The companies said Monday that Daiwa will acquire a 15.38% stake in Aozora for about 51.9 billion yen ($331.8 million).

 

- Shreyashi Sanyal

Data from the Bank of Japan showed corporate inflation was stable in April from a year earlier, but import prices jumped last month.

 

Import prices rose 6.4% year-on-year in April on the back of a weaker yen. It was the biggest jump in import prices since March 2023.

 

Japan's corporate goods price index (CGPI), or producer prices, rose 0.9% year-on-year last month, the same as in March. The figure was slightly higher than the 0.8% rise forecast by Reuters.

 

CGPI is a measure of the prices companies charge each other for their goods and services.

 

- Shreyashi Sanyal

India's consumer price index rose 4.83% year-on-year in April, marginally below the 4.85% recorded in March and slowing for the fourth consecutive month.

 

Although it was the slowest rate of inflation since June 2023, the figure was slightly above the 4.8% expected by economists.

 

India's statistics ministry said rural inflation rose more sharply to 5.43%, while urban inflation was 4.11%.

 

The ministry also added that inflation in clothing and footwear, housing and fuel declined from the previous month.

 

- Lim Hui Jie

 

Only three ETFs in the world have delivered double-digit annualized returns over the past five years.

 

These three funds stand out among 8,300 equity ETFs around the world.

 

Analysts also expect two of the three ETFs to grow by double digits again over the next 12 months.