Asian markets finish week on a high

Asian markets ended the week on a positive note following the lead from Wall Street, with energy firms lifted by a rally in oil prices.

While the volatility that greeted the start of February has subsided for now, traders continue to fret over the prospect that US borrowing costs are likely to rise further as the world’s top economy powers ahead.

“Investors are just nervous about interest rates,” Paul Nolte, a portfolio manager at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago, told Bloomberg News.

“Everybody is waiting for more economic data to confirm or deny whatever the Fed position is. It’s a big case of the nerves.”

Most equities in Asia sank on Thursday after the Fed released minutes pointing towards a number of rate hikes this year owing to an expected surge in inflation as Donald Trump’s tax cuts kick in and economic growth improves.

However, a bounce-back was seen yesterday as investors tracked their New York counterparts.

“The minutes were far more balanced than the equity market sell-off suggested,” said Stephen Innes, head of Asia-pacific trading at OANDA.

“The discussions about their inflation target being symmetric indicate that the Feds are less concerned about the updraft from inflationary pressures than current market pricing.”

Tokyo ended 0.7 percent higher, helped by a weaker yen. Hong Kong climbed one percent, Shanghai added 0.6 percent and Sydney put on 0.8 percent. Seoul and Singapore each jumped 1.5 percent, while Wellington, Taipei and Jakarta were also well in the green.