Asian markets follow Wall Street higher on upbeat news from China, US

HONG KONG (AP) — Stocks in Asia advanced on Friday, led by gains in Hong Kong and other Chinese markets fueled by China’s moves to rev up its economy.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index was up more than 1% as the ruling Liberal Democratic Party conducted a leadership election that will determine who is Japan’s next prime minister. The change in leadership is not expected to lead to any major policy shifts, given the similarities between the leading contenders.

China’s central bank cut its reserve requirement for banks as of Friday as part of measures announced this week to help the property industry and support financial markets.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong advanced 3.7% to 20,659.03 and the Shanghai Composite index jumped 2.1% to 3,065.29.

Meanwhile, the Shanghai Stock Exchange encountered glitches that hindered order processing and caused delays after the market opened on Friday. This led to a 6.4% increase in the Shenzhen index, as local media reported that investors flocked to that smaller market during the delay.

Trading returned to normal by noon, and the Shanghai Stock Exchange later said in a statement that it was still investigating the causes.

In the latest sign of the malaise hindering growth in the world’s second-largest economy, the government reported that industrial profits fell nearly 18% year-on-year in August.

Shares of Hong Kong’s property giant New World Development surged 21.5% on Friday trading after Adrian Cheng, the third-generation scion at the helm of the conglomerate, had been replaced. The firm reported an annual loss of over $2.4 billion in a profit warning last month, its first loss in nearly 20 years.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index edged 1.4% higher to 39,451.25 after Tokyo’s consumer inflation, considered a leading indicator of nationwide trends, cooled to 2.2% year-on-year in September, in line with the market consensus.

Elsewhere in Asia, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added nearly 0.1% to 8,208.70. South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.2% to 2,666.01.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 added 0.4% to 5,745.37, setting an all-time high for the third time this week and the 42nd time this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.6% to 42,175.11, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.6% to 18,190.29.

Micron Technology led the way with a jump of 14.7% after the maker of computer memory and storage products delivered stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It benefited from sales related to artificial-intelligence technology, where a boom has helped drive some stocks to astounding heights.

Jabil climbed 11.7% after the electronics manufacturer likewise reported stronger profit and revenue than expected. It also announced a plan to plow cash to its shareholders by buying back up to $1 billion of its stock.

The biggest drop in the S&P 500 hit Super Micro Computer, which gave back some of its huge gains after more than tripling last year amid the AI frenzy. Its stock tumbled 12.2% following a report from The Wall Street Journal saying the U.S. Department of Justice is probing the seller of servers and storage systems. The company declined to comment.

A round of reports on Thursday suggested the world’s largest economy may be doing better than expected.

Fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week in the latest signal that layoffs remain relatively low across the economy. A separate report said the overall U.S. economy grew at a 3% annual rate during the spring, as previously estimated. That’s a solid rate.

The hope on Wall Street is for a form of financial nirvana where the U.S. economy’s growth holds steady, keeping corporate profits humming while the Federal Reserve continues to lower interest rates.

The Fed last week made a drastic turn in how it sets interest rates. It’s now cutting them to make things easier for the U.S. economy after keeping rates high for years in hopes of extinguishing high inflation. Lower rates not only make it less expensive to borrow money to buy a house, a car or things on credit cards, they can also boost prices for all kinds of investments.

In other dealings early Friday, benchmark U.S. crude oil lost 15 cents to $67.52 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 19 cents at $70.90 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar rose to 145.24 Japanese yen from 144.80 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1170, down from $1.1176.

___

AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.

Zimo Zhong, The Associated Press