Stocks Rise Following Selloff, With Earnings at the Centre – Asia Market Wrap

As attention turned from Middle East tensions to corporate profits and economic data for clues about central bank policy, Asian equities rose.

Following Israel’s retaliatory strike, benchmarks throughout the region recovered some of the ground lost the previous week as traders found solace in the fact that Iran was not escalating the situation. The actions taken by Chinese officials to enhance the city’s standing as a financial centre contributed to the outperformance of the Hang Seng Index.

After Middle East tensions and hawkish remarks from Federal Reserve officials this week caused traders to lose confidence in the Fed’s ability to lower rates anytime soon, demand for safe havens decreased. Both gold and oil declined. The Bloomberg dollar index fell by 0.1% as the yield on US Treasury 10-year notes increased by four basis points.