Asian Markets Extend Winning Streak as Amazon and Apple Lift Global Sentiment
Asian equities were on track for a seventh straight month of gains on Friday, buoyed by upbeat earnings from Amazon and Apple, which helped offset weakness in other major tech stocks and lifted overall market confidence.
Amazon’s shares surged 13% after hours on Thursday, adding more than $300 billion to its market value, following stellar earnings and strong AWS growth. Apple gained 2.3% after its iPhone sales outlook beat expectations, reinforcing optimism in the broader tech sector.
The rally helped balance out declines in Meta and Microsoft, which fell on investor concerns over rising AI-related spending. Six of the “Magnificent Seven” tech giants have now reported quarterly results, delivering a mixed picture ahead of Nvidia’s results, due in three weeks.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 1.9%, capping weekly and monthly gains of 6% and 16.4%, respectively — its biggest monthly rise since 1990 — driven by optimism over potential fiscal stimulus under new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
Meanwhile, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged 0.4% lower, weighed down by losses in Chinese equities, though it remained on course for a 1% weekly and 4% monthly gain.
Chinese blue chips slipped 1.2% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.9% after data showed China’s factory activity contracted in October at its fastest pace in six months, dampening regional sentiment.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% to 47,522.12, the S&P 500 lost 1% to 6,822.34, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.6% to 23,581.14.
In the bond market, the yield on 10-year US Treasury notes edged higher to 4.099%, up from 4.075% late Wednesday, as investors weighed central bank signals and solid US corporate earnings against mixed global data.
