Asian shares soar after Wall Street hits record high and inflation in Japan falls

Asian stock markets mostly rallied on Friday after Wall Street hit a record high and inflation in Japan fell.

Market benchmarks in Shanghai, Tokyo and Sydney rose. Hong Kong declined.

The S&P 500 Wall Street index rose 0.3%, marking its weekly gain.

Investors are shifting their focus from corporate earnings to the longer-term outlook for the global economy and whether central banks can feel the pressure to reduce rising prices by rolling back stimulus faster than planned.

Inflation is now the main focus of the markets, Sakdah Makok of https://fx-exness.com/loginexness/ said in a report.

Japan's government said on Friday that consumer inflation fell to 0.1 per cent in October from 0.2 per cent the previous month.

The Shanghai Composite index rose 0.3 per cent to 3,531.26, while Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index added 0.4 per cent to 29,718.62. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.7% to 24,878.87.

Seoul's Kospi added 0.4% to 2,958.64 and Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 added 0.2% to 7,391.60. New Zealand and Singapore declined, while Bangkok and Jakarta rose.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 index rose to 4,704.54 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2 per cent to 35,870.95. The composite Nasdaq added 72.14 points to 15,993.71 points.

Shares of Nvidia Corp. jumped 8.3 percent after the maker of graphics chips for gaming and artificial intelligence reported strong results. Other chipmakers also strengthened their positions. Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. rose 2.4 percent and Micron Technology Inc. - up 2.1%.

Shares of Macy's Inc. rose 21.2% after the department store chain beat earnings forecasts.

Two-thirds of companies on the S&P 500 list fell. Profits at large technology companies and retailers offset losses in other sectors as investors priced in recent corporate earnings.

Also on Thursday, the Labour Department said the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell for the seventh week to a pandemic low of 268,000.

US stocks rose in early October as companies reported better-than-expected profits.

Companies in the S&P 500 index reported a 39% rise in profits. This beats previous June forecasts of 23% growth for the quarter.

Companies are facing higher raw material costs and supply chain issues. Consumers have so far come to terms with higher prices, but analysts fear they could eventually curb costs if the rise continues.

In energy markets, US benchmark crude rose 65 cents to $79.06 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used as the benchmark for world oil prices, rose 72 cents to $81.96 a barrel in London.

The dollar rose to 114.38 yen from 114.27 yen on Thursday. The euro fell to $1.1356 from $1.1370.