Nikkei Hits Record High On Wall St. Bounce

Japan's Nikkei hit a fresh record high on Friday, March 1, 2024, buoyed by the bounce on Wall Street as a key US inflation reading was in line with expectations, while markets elsewhere in Asia were more subdued on China's still-uncertain economic outlook, Stella Qiu reported for Reuters.

The Nikkei index gained 1.8% to hit a fresh all-time high, extending a surge of 7.9% the previous month when it breached levels last seen in 1989. I Photo: Kyodo News

The Nikkei index gained 1.8% to hit a fresh all-time high, extending a surge of 7.9% the previous month when it breached levels last seen in 1989. Australia's resources-heavy shares also hit a record high and were last up 0.3% on the day.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan, however, fell 0.1%, weighed down by a 0.2% drop in Hong Kong's Hang Seng index.

The Asia index is set for a weekly loss of 1%. Data on Friday showed China's factory activity contracted for a fifth straight month in February, while the expansion in the services sector picked up pace, highlighting an uneven recovery for the world's second-largest economy.

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