Asian stock markets rally, Europe down with high inflation

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Stock markets in Asia rallied Thursday to close on a high note, while European stock exchanges were down with inflation climbing further.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, was up 129 points, or 3.8%, to 3,543 points at 1017GMT.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 stock exchange rose 890 points, or 3.46%, to close at 26,652 points.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, was the best performer in Asia, soaring 1,413 points, or 7.04%, to 21,501.

China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange increased 44 points, or 1.4%, to finish at 3,215.

India's Sensex benchmark jumped 1,047 points, or 1.84%, to end the day at 57,863.

The Singapore index added 31 points, or 0.97%, to 3,322.

In Europe, indices were down with inflation climbing further.

Euro area annual consumer inflation hit a new high of 5.9% in February, according to the statistical office of the EU earlier. February's final reading was up from 5.1% in January and 0.9% in February 2021, Eurostat said.

The STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 countries, was down 1.39 points, or 0.31%, to 447.06 at 1025GMT.

London's FTSE 100 decreased 21 points, or 0.29%, to 7,270. Germany's DAX 30 fell 142 points, or 1%, to 14,298.

While France's CAC 40 was down 31 points, or 0.48%, to 6,557, Italy's FTSE MIB declined 275 points, or 1.14%, to 24,009.

Spain's IBEX 35 decreased 37 points, or 0.44%, to 8,343.

In the US, futures indicated that the American indices will open with losses, pulling back from the previous day's rally after the Federal Reserve made its first rate hike and signaled an additional six interest rate increases as markets had priced in.

The Dow Jones futures were down 136 points, or almost 0.4%, to 33,820 at the time.

The S&P futures fell 19 points, or 0.44%, to 4,330, while the Nasdaq futures lost 76 points, or 0.55%, to 13,873.