Stock Market Today: Asian Shares Up After Wall St Comeback

Bangkok, Jul 26 (AP) Shares were mostly higher in Asia on Friday, with major markets apart from Shanghai and Taiwan logging modest gains.

US futures and oil prices rose.

That followed a split Thursday on Wall Street, where general stocks and other formerly downtrodden areas of the market rose while superstar Big Tech stocks gave back more of their stellar gains.

Early Friday, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index was up 0.3% at 37,977.30, after sinking 3.3% the day before amid heavy sell-offs in many markets.

Tokyo's core consumer price index rose 2.2% in July, rising for the third straight month to its highest level in four months, adding to expectations that the Bank of Japan may raise its near-zero benchmark interest rate at a policy meeting next week.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged 0.2% higher, to 17,033.91, while the Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.2% to 2,881.23.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 surged 0.9% to 7,929.70, while the Kospi in Seoul added 0.7% to 2,730.53.

Taiwan's Taiex sank 3.4% as it reopened after markets there were closed Thursday due to a typhoon. It was catching up with the retreat Wednesday, which was the S&P 500's worst loss since 2022. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. plunged 5.6%, tracking declines in Big Tech companies.

In Bangkok, the SET rose 0.5%, while India's Sensex gained 0.3%.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 lost 0.5% following its slide from the day before, closing at 5,399.22. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% to 39,935.07, while the Nasdaq composite sank 0.9% to 17,181.72.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks jumped 1.3%. It's up 8.6% this month, versus a loss of 1.1% for the big stocks in the S&P 500.

Continued losses for Nvidia and most of the handful of Big Tech stocks that have been primarily responsible for the S&P 500's run to records this year weighed on the market. They had tumbled a day earlier after profit reports from Tesla and Alphabet underwhelmed investors, raising concerns that the market's frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology had sent prices too high.

Whether the handful of stocks known as the “Magnificent Seven” are rising or falling makes a huge impact on Wall Street because they've grown so mammoth in market value. That gives their stock movements extra sway on the S&P 500 and other indexes.

Still, the majority of U.S. stocks rallied Thursday after a surprisingly strong report on the U.S. economy raised hopes for profits of smaller companies' other formerly unloved areas of the market.

The economy's growth accelerated to an estimated 2.8% annual rate from April through June, double the rate from the prior quarter but not so hot that it fanned worries about upward pressure on inflation.

An update is due later Friday about the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, but since it has largely resumed its slowdown, the widespread expectation is for the Federal Reserve to begin cutting its main interest rate from the highest level in more than two decades. Following Thursday's report, traders still saw a 100% probability that the Fed will begin doing so in September, according to data from CME Group.

Cuts to rates would release pressure that's built up on both the economy and financial markets, and investors are thinking it would be a big boost for stocks whose profits are more closely tied to the strength of the economy than Big Tech's.

Airline stocks flew higher Thursday after American Airlines Group and Southwest Airlines both reported profits for the spring that topped analysts' expectations. Southwest also announced a break from a tradition of 50 years: It will start assigning seats and selling premium seating for customers who want more legroom. (AP)