Asian Stocks Tread Water, Petrochina Surges on Spinoff Report

© Reuters

By Ambar Warrick

AiVIF.com-- Asian stocks moved little on Friday as hawkish comments from the Federal Reserve weighed on risk appetite, while Petrochina surged on a report that it intends to spin off its marketing business.

Most Asian bourses moved less than 0.5% in either direction after hawkish overnight comments from several Fed members suggested that the central bank intended to keep raising rates at a sharp clip.

St Louis Fed President James Bullard and San Francisco President Mary Daly both flagged a potential 75 basis point rate hike by the central bank during its September meeting. This comes after the minutes of the Fed’s recent meeting showed that most members of the rate-setting committee supported sharp interest rate hikes. 

Wall Street indexes had ended flat after the news, providing a muted lead-in for Asian bourses.

Chinese stocks fell slightly, with the blue-chip Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 index down 0.4%. 

Shares of PetroChina (SS:601857), the country’s largest oil and gas producer, jumped nearly 2% after Bloomberg reported that the firm intends to spin off its marketing and trading business into a separate listing. 

The business is one of the biggest money makers for the firm. PetroChina’s parent, China National Petroleum Corp, is reportedly seeking proposals on the feasibility of a spin-off.

Chinese stocks were set to end the week lower as concerns over slowing economic growth in the country and potentially worsening ties with the United States over Taiwan dented local markets.

A profit warning from real estate developer Country Garden Holdings Company Ltd (HK:2007) also dented property stocks on Thursday, and raised more concerns over the beleaguered sector. 

Australian stocks were flat on Friday. Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX:NCM), the country’s largest gold miner, outperformed the S&P/ASX 200, rising nearly 4% after it reported a better-than-expected annual profit. 

The gold miner also forecast strong production numbers for 2023.