Asian stock markets close higher on Friday

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Major Asian stock markets rebounded at Friday's close, as investors absorbed hotter-than-expected US inflation data.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, jumped 2.18% to 2,821.40 on Friday. On a weekly basis, it fell 3.10%.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 stock exchange surged 3.25% to 27,090.76. The index was slightly down by 0.09% this week.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, went up by 1.21%, to 16,587.69, while it had a weekly rise of 6.50% on Friday.

China's Shanghai stock exchange was also on a high note, rising 1.84% from the previous close, to 3,071 points on Friday, while it was up 1.57% on a weekly basis.

In line with market forecast, China's annual consumer inflation rate rose to 2.8% in September, official figures revealed on Friday. This was the largest year-on-year rise in consumer prices since April 2020.

Indian Sensex benchmark increased 1.20%, to 57,919.97 and Singapore index benchmark lost 0.03%, to 3,039.6. While Singapore was down 3.38% this week, Sensex fell 0.47%.

US annual consumer inflation came in at 8.2% in September, slightly easing from the 8.3% yearly gain in August, but higher than estimates of an 8.1% annual increase.

The Fed has increased its benchmark interest rate by a total of 300 points since March to tame record inflation, while it is expected to make another rate hike of 75 basis points in November, followed by an additional increase of 50 basis points in December.