Regional Asian Equities Higher, Led By Gains In South Korea

Asian stocks remained steady and are on track for their best week in a month, with a rally in South Korean shares balancing out declines in other markets. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index saw fluctuations between gains and losses and now trade little changed. South Korean equities emerged as top gainers after reopening from a holiday, driven by foreign investment in local chipmakers. Although trading has remained cautious ahead of the US non-farm payroll data due later today with heightened expectations of Fed rate cuts following softer-than-forecast US data and recent policy easing by the Bank of Canada and the ECB.

• Japanese stocks have fluctuated between gains and losses today as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of the US employment data on Friday and the Bank of Japan’s policy decision next week. The Topix is down 0.18% and the Nikkei has slipped 0.20%. Meanwhile, the USD/JPY has been range-bound recently and after initially trading higher this morning we have pared gains to trade down 0.10% at 155.52.
• South Korea’s Kospi surged as much as 1.5% this morning we now trade up 1.30%, while the Kosdaq is up 1.65%, driven by foreign fund inflows, particularly into chipmakers such as SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics, and LG Energy Solution. The Kospi Index rose 3.2% over the past week, and the South Korean won strengthened by 1.3% against the dollar to 1,367.85.
• Taiwan equities are a touch lower today, moves today have largely been capped by lower semiconductor prices overnight, after the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index fell 0.86% and ahead of US NFP . Later today we have Trade Balance data last month the trade balance surplus missed estimates as exports to China & HK fell 11.3%.
• Australian equities are slightly higher today with the ASX200 up 0.36% bolstered by gains in miners and consumer discretionary stocks. The benchmark is on track for its biggest weekly gain since February 2. Traders are now focusing on a key US jobs report, which is expected to influence the Federal Reserve’s policy outlook.
• Elsewhere in SEA, New Zealand Equities are 0.40% lower, Singapore equities are 0.30% higher, Malaysian equities are 0.35% higher, Indian equities are 0.50%, Philippines Equities are 0.15%, while Indonesian equities are 0.60% lowe.