Alibaba Leads Asian Stocks Higher After Earnings: Markets Wrap

By Pune Media On Feb 21, 2025 23

(Bloomberg) — Chinese technology shares led gains in Asian stocks after Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. announced its fastest pace of revenue growth in more than a year, boosting optimism toward the sector.

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Equities in Hong Kong and mainland China advanced after a gauge of US-listed Chinese shares climbed on the back of Alibaba’s earnings. Japanese stocks swung to a gain after opening lower. A gauge of dollar strength rose.

While investors remain nervous about rising geopolitical tensions and a widening tariff war, Alibaba and other Chinese technology shares have rallied in recent weeks on enthusiasm over DeepSeek’s artificial-intelligence model. That’s put Asian stocks in line to notch a sixth straight weekly gain, the longest winning streak in almost a year.

Alibaba’s strong earnings “more than justifies the recent migration of capital from a concentrated US tech position toward the China AI plays,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone Group in Melbourne.

The yen appreciated past the key level of 150 late Thursday to the strongest since December on speculation the Bank of Japan will hike interest rates sooner rather than later. Traders are pricing in a roughly 84% chance of a 25 basis point hike at the July meeting, up from a 70% chance at the start of the month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Japanese inflation accelerated more than expected, data showed Friday. Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 3.2% from a year earlier in January, the biggest gain since June 2023, according to the ministry of internal affairs. The yen weakened back past 150 per dollar in Friday trading.

“The CPI prints, alongside the recent Q4 GDP and December wage data, justified the recent lift in BOJ rate hike pricing,” said Carol Kong, a strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. “USD/JPY can reach our end-March forecast of 149 sooner than expected.”

The S&P 500 slipped 0.4% Thursday as Walmart Inc. shares fell — the first big-box retailer to report results after the holiday season. That’s just days after retail sales signaled an abrupt pullback by consumers. A slide in banks also weighed on trading, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. each falling over 3.8%.

Elsewhere, Treasuries were little changed in Asia after 10-year yields fell three basis points to 4.51% in New York. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that any move to boost the share of longer-term Treasuries in government debt issuance is some ways off given current hurdles that include elevated inflation and the Federal Reserve’s quantitative tightening program.

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In Australia, the central bank is closely monitoring the state of the labor market as persistent tightness may signal a stronger economy, Governor Michele Bullock said, adding that policymakers aren’t “pre-committed” to any path for interest rates.

In commodities, oil headed for its biggest weekly gain since early January on increasing supply uncertainty. Gold was steady after reaching a fresh record.

Key events this week:

Eurozone HCOB manufacturing & services PMI, Friday
US S&P Global manufacturing & services PMI, existing home sales, consumer sentiment, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 10:46 a.m. Tokyo time
Japan’s Topix was little changed
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.1%
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.9%
The Shanghai Composite was little changed
Euro Stoxx 50 futures were little changed

Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%
The euro fell 0.1% to $1.0487
The Japanese yen fell 0.5% to 150.32 per dollar
The offshore yuan fell 0.3% to 7.2536 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin rose 0.1% to $98,249.01
Ether rose 0.5% to $2,740.94

Bonds

Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed
Spot gold fell 0.1% to $2,934.71 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Matthew Burgess.