Stock markets: Tokyo and Seoul up, Shanghai and Hong Kong down
The spotlight is on artificial intelligence-related shares and the slowdown in US inflation
Asian stock markets are showing mixed performance amid the uncertainty still weighing on the Middle East, which is affecting the Chinese markets in particular. Tokyo is up 0.45 per cent, whilst Shanghai is down 0.36 per cent and Hong Kong has lost 0.99 per cent. Seoul, however, is performing well, with the Kospi up 1.79 per cent.
The market is still being driven by technology shares linked to artificial intelligence and the slowdown in US inflation, which has reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will refrain from raising interest rates.
Treasury bonds held onto their gains for the week, buoyed by two days of favourable US inflation data, with shorter-dated bonds outperforming longer-dated ones. The yield on the two-year bond, which is sensitive to interest rates, remained virtually unchanged at 4.15 per cent, after falling by six basis points on Thursday.
