Asian stocks rise on easing US rate hike expectations, Singapore stocks hit record high

Odaily Planet Daily News: On Friday, most stock markets in emerging Asia rose, with Singapore's Straits Times Index hitting an all-time high. This followed comments by Federal Reserve Governor Waller, after which investors scaled back bets on a September rate hike by the Fed. The MSCI emerging Asia stock index rose 1.4%, on track for its best single-day performance in nearly seven trading days. The Straits Times Index rose as much as 0.9% to an all-time high of 5,807.16 points, led by gains in blue-chip banking stocks. The index is up 1.9% this week, on track for its best weekly performance since early July. Spurred by this, the MSCI ASEAN Index rose to a near seven-day high, up 1% so far this week. (Jin Shi)