Asia markets mostly higher as U.S. debt ceiling bill passes House vote

India’s gross domestic product expanded 6.1% year on year from January to March, faster than the 5% expected by economists polled by Reuters.

The country’s growth was mostly boosted by government and private capital spending, government data showed.

The country’s full year GDP grew 7.2% year on year, lower than the 9.1% recorded in the year before. India records its full year GDP from March to March the next year.

The rupee strenghtened marginally on Thursday to trade at 82.662 against the greenback.

— Lim Hui Jie

Japan’s factory activity expanded for the first time since Oct 2022, according to a private survey.

The final au Jibun Bank Japan manufacturing purchasing managers’ index stood at 50.6, snapping a six-month streak of readings below the 50-mark that separates expansion and contraction.

Tim Moore, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence wrote that the latest print “highlights a decisive turnaround in manufacturing sector performance,” pointing at a recovery in Japan’s domestic economic conditions.

This helped to lift client spending, which offset another month of subdued demand in key export markets, S&P wrote.

— Lim Hui Jie

Japan’s Nikkei 225 outperformed major global benchmarks in the month of May, FactSet data showed.

Seeing the sharpest gains among its peers, the rise seen for the month was led by semiconductor and related stocks, as it continued to mark new three decade highs this week.

Wall Street expects to see higher investment and customer demand for Japan stocks as global companies continue to look to cut their exposure to China.

Advantest was the outperformer on the Nikkei 225, jumping by 70%, followed by Screen, which rose 33% for the month. Renesas Electronics also jumped 29% in May.

— Jihye Lee

Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker said Wednesday that he’s leaning toward not raising rates at the central bank’s June meeting.

“I am in the camp increasingly coming into this meeting thinking that we really should skip,” Harker said. To be sure, he added that Friday’s jobs report could change his mind. Following those comments, the CME Group’s FedWatch tool showed only a 24% chance of the Fed raising rates.

— Fred Imbert

The dollar index reached a fresh high of 104.361 Wednesday morning, marking its highest level since March 16. It pulled back slightly to 104.28 as of 9:52 a.m. ET.

The index, which weighs the U.S. greenback against a basket of currencies, is up 2.73% month to date, putting it on pace for its best month since September 2022, when it rose 3.14%.

— Hakyung Kim

The latest U.S. job openings and labor turnover survey (JOLTS) shows openings increased to more than 10 million in April from 9.6 million in March. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a decline to 9.5 million.

“The surge in job openings defied expectations for a decline and stands as another testament to the resilience of the labor market,” wrote Bankrate senior economic analyst Mark Hamrick.

To be sure, not all data released Wednesday was positive. The Chicago PMI reading for May came in at 40.4, well below a Dow Jones forecast of 47.

— Fred Imbert