Asia ex-Japan stocks up, but no cause for celebration just yet

TRACKING a Wall Street rally overnight, Asian stocks mostly ticked higher on Friday to conclude a roller coaster week of trading, but experts note that more clarity is needed on key market concerns.

Lukman Otunuga, research analyst at FXTM, explained that global sentiment repeatedly swung from extremely bearish to bullish this week, as investors tussled with concerns including slowing global growth, US-China trade developments and Brexit-related uncertainty among other things.

"Although US stock markets bounced back to life . . . and Asian shares traded mostly higher, it is certainly too early for any celebrations," said Mr Otunuga. "With investor appetite for riskier assets seen diminishing amid the unfavourable market conditions, global equity markets remain vulnerable to downside shocks," he added.