Asia-Pacific markets are mixing because the IMF raises forecast for international financial development

SINGAPORE – Asia-Pacific stocks were mixed on Wednesday as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised its growth forecast for the global economy this year.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.31% to close at 28,635.21 while the Topix index rose 0.65% to end its trading day at 1,860.07. South Korea’s Kospi closed 0.57% lower at 3,122.56.

Mainland Chinese stocks rose on the day: the Shanghai Composite rose 0.11% to 3,573.34 while the Shenzhen component rose 0.4% to 15,413.84. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was above the flatline at the last hour of trading. Shares in Chinese tech giant Alibaba rose 2.76%.

China’s industrial profits rose 4.1% year over year in 2020, the country’s National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday. In December, industrial profits in China rose 20.1% yoy.

In Australia, the S & P / ASX 200 was down 0.65% to close at 6,780.60. The Australian consumer price index rose 0.9% in the December quarter compared to the previous quarter. This is based on data released by the country’s Bureau of Statistics.

The broadest MSCI index for stocks in Asia Pacific outside Japan fell 0.4%.

In its latest global economic outlook published on Tuesday, the IMF now expects the global economy to grow by 5.5% this year. This corresponds to an increase of 0.3 percentage points compared to the October forecast.

“Much now depends on the outcome of this race between a mutating virus and vaccines to end the pandemic, and on the ability of politicians to provide effective support until then,” said IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath in a blog post.

Global coronavirus virus infections recently passed the 100 million mark, according to a review by Johns Hopkins University. This is because new and more contagious virus mutations are circulating and infection rates are increasing.

Currencies and oil

The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback versus a basket of its peers, closed at 90.204 after a previous low of 90.153.

The Japanese yen was trading at 103.66 per dollar, weaker than below 103.5 against the greenback last week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7739 after rising from $ 0.768 yesterday.

Oil prices were higher in Asia during the afternoon session. The international benchmark’s Brent crude oil futures rose 0.77% to $ 56.34 a barrel. US crude oil futures rose 0.84% ​​to $ 53.05 a barrel.

– CNBC’s Silvia Amaro and Sara Salinas contributed to this report.