Tech sector leads Asian stocks higher

March 04, 2024 (MLN): A rally in technology shares drove Asian stocks broadly higher, ahead of events this week that include Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s congressional testimony and China’s National People’s Congress, as Bloomberg reported.

Tech equities outperformed the regional stock gauge, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Samsung Electronics Co. leading the gains.

The blue-chip gauge Nikkei-225 Stock Average in Japan also surpassed 40,000 for the first time while South Korea’s Kospi index rose as much as 1.5%. Their advances followed the strong rallies in US peers on Friday.

“The Nikkei 225’s 40,000 is certainly a key psychological level, which could offer some resistance for the index and bring volatility,” said Charu Chanana, a strategist at Saxo Capital Markets in Singapore.

“But when structural factors remain in favor, and yen weakness continues, it is likely to be more a bullish signal rather than fueling any concerns of Japanese stocks being overbought,” she added.

Chinese stocks fluctuated ahead of the 14th National People’s Congress, an annual parliamentary gathering in Beijing, that will begin Tuesday as markets await more stimulus measures to aid a soft economy. Most healthcare stocks jumped in anticipation of policy support from the NPC.

“We still think this year earnings growth will be decent. We’re looking for about 8%-10% earnings growth,” Kinger Lau, a strategist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said on China stocks on Bloomberg Television.

Combined with current low valuations and potential policy support coming from the NPC, “we think we have a pretty good setup for the market to do better in the next 10-12 months.”

Elsewhere this week, traders will be keeping an eye on Tokyo inflation, Australian growth data and a policy decision from the European Central Bank.

The so-called Super Tuesday Republican and Democratic party primary votes, US jobs data and earnings from US consumer discretionary stocks are also due.

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