Still, data on Thursday showed China’s economy, the world’s second-biggest, grew a forecast-beating 5 per cent in the first three months of the year.
US investors welcomed the news with open arms, with the S&P 500 ending above 7,000 points for the first time and the Nasdaq closing higher than 24,000 points for the first time.
Tokyo and Seoul again led the rally in Asia, with Japan’s Nikkei hitting a fresh record, as traders poured back into the AI-based tech investments that had helped send the markets surging before war broke out on Feb 28.
Nikkei surged 2.4 per cent to 59,549.59.
Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Taipei and Manila also pushed higher.
Oil prices were flat but held well below US$100 a barrel as traders await the reopening of the key Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of oil and gas passes and has been effectively shut by Iran.
“The markets have already shaken hands, even though the diplomats are still arguing over the wording of the peace treaty,” wrote Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.
“The shift is profound. What began as hope has hardened into something far more constructive and far more directional.
“Hope has given way to a bright, beaming light at the end of the peace tunnel. The market is no longer asking whether there will be a deal. It is trading as if the deal is already signed, sealed, and quietly filed away.”
The upbeat mood has also been helped by healthy earnings from large US banks that attest to resilience among US businesses and customers in the face of the Middle East crisis.
There appeared to be little major reaction to Trump’s renewed threat to sack Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell if he stays beyond his mandate on May 15.
The central banker said last month he would not leave his post as a Fed governor until a Justice Department investigation involving him is “well and truly over, with transparency and finality”.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/japan-stock-market-record-high-stocks-iran-6059856
