BANGKOK (AP) – Asian stocks were mostly higher on Friday in quiet holiday trading as markets including Hong Kong, Sydney, Singapore and India were closed.
Friday is Good Friday, and many financial markets are closed. Markets in India are closed for the Holi festival.
Tokyo's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.4% to $40,316.56, while Seoul's Kospi rose 0.1% to $2,748.55. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.5% to 3,025.56.
Taiwan's Thai Ex rose 0.4%. In Bangkok, the SET rose 0.3%.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 closed at 5,254.35, up 0.1% from the previous day's all-time high. It rose 10.2% in the first quarter.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% to $39,807.37, also setting a record. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.1% to 16,379.46.
Oil prices soared. Benchmark U.S. crude oil rose $1.82 to $83.17 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude oil, the international standard crude, rose $1.59 to $87.00 per barrel.
The dollar fell from 151.38 yen to 151.30 yen. The euro fell slightly from $1.0790 to $1.0775.
The U.S. stock market has been on a nearly unstoppable rally since late October, with the S&P 500 just posting its fifth consecutive month of victories. Stocks soared as the U.S. economy remained remarkably strong despite high interest rates aimed at curbing inflation.
And with inflation hopefully still cooling from its peak, the Federal Reserve Interest rate cut likely Several times later this year.
Most stocks soared in the quarter, led by a handful of companies capitalizing on Wall Street's continued frenzy over artificial intelligence technology. Nvidia, whose chips are fueling much of the AI rush, soared 82.5%.
The only stock in the S&P 500 that rose was Super Micro Computer, which also recently joined the index because of the AI mania. The company, which sells servers and storage systems used for AI and other computing, saw its stock soar an astonishing 255.3%.
That more than offset the quarter's setbacks by companies like Tesla and Boeing. Tesla's stock more than doubled last year, but continued unstable business led to a 29.3% decline. Meanwhile, Boeing Co. fell 26% as concerns about safety and manufacturing quality grew.
Thursday's report said the U.S. economy grew at a rate in the last three months of last year. stronger than previous estimates.another said Fewer U.S. workers applying for unemployment benefits Last week was the latest indicator that the job market is strong.
Wall Street's expectation remains that the Federal Reserve will begin lowering key interest rates in June. Lower interest rates ease pressure on the economy and at the same time push up investment prices.However, progress in implementation inflation It's down bumpy together recently report It's coming again this year It's hotter than expected.
Critics say that in addition to interest rates remaining high for an extended period of time, other threats could derail the stock market's rally. The biggest reason for this is that stock prices are rising at a faster pace than corporate profits, making them look expensive depending on how you look at them. Companies will need to steadily grow profits to justify such a move.
On Wall Street, RH soared 17.3% even though the home furnishings retailer reported lower profit and revenue than analysts expected for the latest quarter. The company also indicated that demand is on the rise, and its revenue forecast for next year was slightly higher than analysts expected.
Analysts said investors were interested in signs of recovery in the housing market and were ready to jump on board. Mortgage interest rates are expected to fall later this year.
Chemours fell 9.1% despite reporting its latest quarterly results that beat analyst expectations. The company's pre-tax profit for this quarter is expected to be lower than analysts expected.
Trump Media & Technology Group was also a loser. The company, which operates former President Donald Trump's Truth Social, fell 6.4% after soaring more than 14% in each of the past two days.The stock was doing well More than critics say is reasonable For a loss-making company driven by President Trump's fans and investors looking to profit from the craze.
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AP Business Writer Stan Cho contributed.
