Asia Stocks Rise Tracking Wall St Rebound, But China Lags By Investing.com

By Ambar Warrick

Investing.com– Asian stock markets rose on Tuesday after a slew of strong corporate earnings spurred an overnight recovery on Wall Street, although mixed economic signals and concerns over a U.S. semiconductor blockade hurt Chinese stocks.

China’s bluechip index fell 0.1%, while the traded flat. Concerns over the Chinese economy continued to weigh on the stock market, after President Xi Jinping signaled the country has no intention of scaling back its strict zero-COVID policy.

But the government also unveiled plans for more stimulus spending, while the People’s Bank of China also kept monetary policy at accommodative levels on Monday in order to support economic growth. This helped Chinese stocks start the week on marginally positive terms.

Sentiment towards the country was battered by the U.S. moving to block Chinese firms from importing chips made using American technology. The move has the potential to severely hamper Beijing’s chipmaking ambitions, and could also result in retaliatory measures.

Still, there were some positive cues for Chinese stocks. BYD (SZ:), the world’s largest electric car maker, surged over 5% after it flagged an over 300% jump in its profit.

Hong Kong-listed shares (HK:) of the firm jumped over 6%, and helped spur a 1% gain in the .

Broader Asian markets rose tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. Japan’s index added 1.5%, while the Index rose 1.2%, with both bourses recovering from steep losses in recent sessions. Taiwan stocks in particular were also hit hard by the U.S. curbs, given their exposure to Chinese chip demand.

Wall Street indexes after major bank stocks logged better-than-expected third-quarter earnings. Focus now turns to upcoming readings from major technology and consumer companies to gauge how corporate earnings performed amid rising inflation and interest rates.

Several major Asian companies are also set to release earnings this week, including Hong Kong exchange operator Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing (HK:), Singapore conglomerate Keppel Corp (SGX:) and telecom giants China Mobile Ltd (HK:) and China Telecom (HK:).

Among antipodean stocks, Australia’s index jumped nearly 2% on Tuesday. But global miner Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:), one of the largest stocks on the index, after it logged softer iron ore shipments in the third quarter, and flagged a weaker outlook for the year.