On Friday, stocks in the Asia-Pacific region gave a mixed performance, as China’s inflation data for the month of May was mostly in accordance with expectations. Investors were also keeping an eye out for the US inflation data numbers expected on the same day. There was a 0.29% fall recorded in the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong, as it reached 21,806.18.

After recording a fall of 4% earlier in the day, shares of Alibaba saw a reversal and closed the day higher by 1.35%. This was applicable for shares listed in Hong Kong, while those listed in the US saw an 8.13% drop on Thursday after Ant Group squashed any possibilities of reviving the company’s public listing.

The Shanghai Composite index in mainland China saw a rise of 1.42%, as it reached $3,284.83. There was also a 1.901% increase in the Shenzhen component, as it reached 12,035.15.

Chinese Inflation Data

According to official data released on Friday, the producer inflation data in China rose as per expectations in May. There was a 6.4% increase in the producer price index, as compared to a year ago. The Chinese Bureau of Statistics provided the data and it was pretty much what had been expected. Meanwhile, the increase in consumer inflation in the country was also in line with what had been expected. There was a 2.1% increase in the consumer price index, as opposed to a year earlier.

Market analysts said that since the producer price index was already going down, it was unlikely that inflation would stand in the way of policy easing in China. It is expected that some more stimulus will be rolled out by the government in the next few months and there will also be a cut in the interest rates. The Chinese stocks rose, despite the fact that authorities in Beijing and China had imposed major COVID-19 curbs once more.

Other Markets’ Performances

There was a 1.49% decline in the Nikkei index in Japan, as it closed the week at 27,824.29. This was after a 2.01% drop in the SoftBank Group. Likewise, a 1.32% in the Topix index was also recorded, as it reached 1,943.09. There was a 1.1% fall in the Kospi index in South Korea, as it ended trading at 2,595.87.

There was also a 1.25% dip in the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia, as it closed the day at 6,932. There was also an 0.84% decline recorded in the MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares excluding Japan. As far as stateside indexes are concerned, there was a 2.38% fall in the S&P 500, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped by 3.94%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also plunged by almost 2.75%.

The Japanese yen had been struggling against the US dollar this week and was still at 133.70 against the greenback. The Australian dollar had reached $0.713, after seeing a decline recently. In the second half of Asian trading hours, the oil prices had gone down, as Brent crude futures reached $122.41 a barrel.