Asia-Pacific Markets See Mixed Performance Following Wall Street Losses

Shares in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed on Thursday, following losses on Wall Street overnight.
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The Nikkei 225 index in Japan fell by 1.44% to close at 26,405.23 points, while the Topix index ended the day down by 1% at 1,915.62 points. This came after Japan recorded another trade deficit for the month of December, just a day after the Bank of Japan surprised markets by keeping its yield curve tolerance band unchanged.

The Japanese yen is currently trading at 128.14 against the US dollar.
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South Korea's Kospi index rose 0.51% to close at 2,380.34, while the Kosdaq index added 0.16% to 712.89. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.57% to 7,435.3.
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Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell by 0.48%. Mainland China's Shanghai Composite index climbed by 0.49% to reach 3,240.28, while the Shenzhen Component index was up by 0.87% to 11,913.26.
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Hong Kong and Australia are both scheduled to release their unemployment rate readings for December and October to December respectively.
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Major stock indexes on Wall Street stumbled overnight, with the S&P 500 recording its worst day in more than a month.
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Goh told CNBC's "Street Signs Asia" on Thursday that these currencies have lagged behind the moves in other Asian currencies because both of these economies are not seen as huge beneficiaries of the China reopening.
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He noted that Chinese tourists do not make up a large portion of India or Indonesia's overall tourism growth.
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On the other hand, Goh said that the Thai baht has been the strongest performing currency in Asia this year, and that the Singapore dollar is one of his top recommendations for 2023.
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Currencies in the Asia-Pacific region strengthened on Thursday afternoon, a day after the Bank of Japan announced that it would keep its yield curve control unchanged.
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The Japanese yen continued to strengthen against the U.S. dollar, rising by 0.8% to trade at 127.89.
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The Korean won strengthened by nearly 0.4% after the country announced plans to lift a mandatory registration process for foreign stock investors. This move is seen as encouraging further overseas investment.
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The Australian dollar weakened by more than 0.7% after its employment data came in weaker than expected, signaling that the central bank’s rate hikes may slow due to a deteriorating jobs market.
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According to James Thom, senior investment director at Aberdeen Standard Investments, Asia's outlook is more promising this year, thanks largely in part to China's sudden reopening.
Given all of the global concerns and issues, there is a lot to be concerned about. However, I feel that Asia is gradually getting better. The outlook is improving somewhat in the early part of this year, as Thursday's "Street Signs Asia" on CNBC showed.
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"The reopening of China is a huge positive for the global economy," said Thom. "Few people had expected or anticipated this, and it will be a real boost to growth and markets."
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He also noted that the weakening of the US dollar is generally helpful for Asian markets.
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Cryptocurrencies traded lower on Tuesday after Bloomberg reported that crypto lender Genesis is preparing to file for bankruptcy, citing sources close to the matter.
Bitcoin was down 2.51% at $20,742.39, according to data from Coin Metrics. Ether dropped 3.66% to stand at $1,522.93.

Last week, Genesis and Gemini were charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly selling unregistered securities in connection with a high-yield product offered to depositors. This is not the first time that these companies have been accused of such wrongdoing – in fact, they have been under investigation by the SEC for several months. If found guilty, they could face significant fines and other penalties.
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Earlier this month, Genesis announced that it would be laying off 30% of its workforce. This came as a shock to many employees, who were not expecting such a large number of layoffs. The company has not yet released a statement explaining the reasoning behind the layoffs.
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After a tough year in 2022, some investors are returning to tech stocks, but investment veteran Michael Landsberg is staying away from the sector.
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He favors safer sectors and shares the name of five companies he expects will do well despite the current economic conditions.
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Oil prices fell sharply after a weak retail sales report raised concerns about a possible recession.
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Brent crude futures fell 1.21%, or $1.03 to $83.95 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures declined 1.38%, or $1.10 to $78.38 a barrel.
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Retail sales in the United States fell 1.1% in December, slightly more than the 1% forecast.
Australia's unemployment rate rose slightly in December, to 3.5%. This was just above expectations of a 48-year low reading of 3.4%.
The figure is lower than the 3.4% unemployment rate for November.
December's employment numbers plunged 14,600, widely missing expectations of a 22,500 growth. This is a sharp decrease from November's increase of 64,000.
Andrew Slimmon, an experienced investor, believes that stocks will outperform most people's expectations this year. He cites the strong performance of the stock market so far this year as evidence that there is still room for growth.
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Slimmon, senior portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Friday that he thinks the stock market will do better earlier this year than what was almost universally predicted by many of the strategists on the sell side.
He also mentioned two of his favorite stocks.
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According to official data, Japan recorded a trade deficit of 1.45 trillion yen ($11.27 billion) for the month of December. This is a significant increase from the previous month, when the deficit was only 963.6 billion yen.
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Japan's imports in December rose 20.6% compared to the previous year, slightly lower than expectations. Its exports rose 11.5% year-on-year, in line with estimates.
This would be the final straw for Japan, which has been running trade deficits all year.
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Many investors are preparing for a difficult year, as a mild recession appears to be on the horizon.
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He names one stock that meets that criterion.
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The major averages all ended the day lower on Wednesday.
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 613.89 points, or 1.81%, while the S&P 500 lost 1.56% and the Nasdaq Composite slid by 1.24%.
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Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester said Wednesday that interest rates have to keep moving higher, even with recent inflation readings softening. She noted that inflation is still below the Fed's target level, and that further rate increases are needed to get it back to that level.
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In an interview with the Associated Press, the policymaker said that the Federal Reserve is likely to have to raise its benchmark interest rate above 5% in order to get inflation moving consistently down to the central bank's 2% goal. She noted that markets and the economy absorbed the half-point December rate hike without any problems.
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Mester said that she thinks the economy needs more stimulus in order to get inflation back on track. She noted that the Fed needs to get inflation above 5% and then keep it there for some time in order to anchor inflation expectations at 2%.
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The current target for the federal funds rate is 4.25%-4.5%.
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Sales during the holiday season were lower than expected in 2022, according to data from the National Retail Federation. This is disappointing news for retailers who had hoped for a better year.
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The industry group said sales in November and December were up 5.3% year over year. The NRF had projected growth between 6% and 8%. However, the actual growth fell short of the projected range.
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The data does not include spending at automobile dealerships, gasoline stations and restaurants. The sales numbers have not been adjusted for inflation.