By Stella Qiu and Alun John BEIJING / HONG KONG (Reuters) – Asian stocks watched a global sell-off on Friday as European Central Bank guidance on rising interest rates and forthcoming inflation data in the US sparked global growth concerns. Shares in China rose amid hopes of political easing. The broader MSCI Asia-Pacific Index of shares outside Japan fell 0.9%, driven by a 1.2% drop in high-resource Australia and a 1.5% drop in South Korea. fell 1.4%. The decline will continue when European markets open. The pan-region fell 0.99%, the Germans were 0.92% lower, futures fell 0.87%. However, the continued strong market from foreign investors and the skeptical hopes for regulatory easing of technology companies raised Chinese stocks on Friday, despite the news that the cities of Beijing and Shanghai were again on alert for COVID-19. The Chinese blue-chip CSI300 index rose 0.41%, while Hong Kong shares reduced the previous losses to decrease by 0.2%. The Hong Kong-listed tech giants, which were hit hard in early trading, reversed losses by up 0.9% due to a change in fortunes on Alibaba shares in Hong Kong (NYSE :), which rose by 1.8%. Reuters reported that Chinese authorities had given billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Group a trial green light to revive its original IPO, following a Bloomberg story that China was considering reviving the IPO. Despite the denials from the company and the securities regulator, investors saw it as a sign that the long-term regulatory repression of technology companies is easing, according to the broad facilitation stance recently by China’s top policymakers. “It’s a message that Beijing has come out to tell you that it has changed from repression to support, so there is no longer much uncertainty,” said Jason Hsu, founder and CIO of Rayliant Global Advisors. “China is now entering a cycle of relaxation, which is definitely good for the stock market. Shares have fallen a lot in the past, so now they will rise again and make up for the losses. I think it ‘s something I’m looking forward to.” Inflation in China’s factories slowed to the slowest pace in 14 months in May due to severe COVID-19 restrictions, while consumer inflation also remained sluggish. This would allow China’s central bank to release more incentives to support the economy, even as monetary authorities in most other countries try to reduce inflation by aggressively raising interest rates. On Thursday, the European Central Bank said it would make its first interest rate hike since 2011 next month, followed by a potentially bigger move in September. “Global stocks came under pressure after the ECB gave its instructions and (ECB President Christine) Lagarde noted rising inflation risks,” ANZ analysts said in a note on Friday. “And as energy prices continue to push higher, it is not yet clear that inflation has peaked. Fed guidance and policy action may need to be more aggressive over time. Financial markets are nervous.” Investors expect the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates by 50 basis points next week, especially if US consumer price data on Friday confirms higher inflation. The consensus forecast forecasts an annual inflation rate of 8.3% for May, unchanged from April. Wall Street shares fell as the market awaited price data. The index and the Nasdaq fell more than 2% in their biggest daily percentage drop since mid-May. In foreign exchange markets, the US dollar fell 0.2% against a basket of major currencies, moving away from its highest level in three weeks before the US inflation report. On Friday, the two-year yield, which is boosted by traders’ expectations for higher interest rates on the Fed, continued its rise to move around the highest level since early May. It reached 2.8352% compared to the US close of 2.817%. The benchmark yield also rose slightly to 3.0568% compared to closing in the US at 3.042% on Thursday. Oil prices fell after new quarantine measures were imposed on parts of Shanghai. fell 0.52% to $ 120.88 a barrel. fell 0.6% to $ 122.38 a barrel. Gold fell on Friday and headed for a weekly fall as bond yields rose. traded at $ 1844.58 per ounce. [GOL/]