Asia-Pacific markets began this week on an upturn, following an indication by New York Federal Reserve President John C. Williams that they might cut interest rates again this year.
Williams indicated on Wednesday that the Fed would reduce its key interest rate since weakness in the labor market is a greater economic threat than high inflation.
Fed has only one meeting remaining in 2025, and it will be during the December 9-10 meeting stateside. The target rate is now at 3.75 percent to 4.00 percent.
According to the CME FedWatch tool, the fed funds future prices are in the area of a 70 percent likelihood of a reduction in the quarter-percentage-point cut, compared to approximately 44 percent last week through November 14.
Asian markets have fallen in all directions last week as traders abandoned tech stocks and heavyweight traders, such as Softbank, Samsung Electronics, and Baidu, have also dropped.
Kospi of South Korea was up 1.56 percent, whereas the small-cap Kosdaq inverted gains and was down marginally. Therefore, Samsung climbed over 4.4 percent.
However, the S&P/ASX 200 of Australia increased by 1.12 percent, recovering a loss of 1.59 percent on Friday. Shares of logistics group Qube surged almost 20 percent on Monday after Macquarie Asset Management offered 11.6 billion Australian dollars ($7.49 billion) to acquire the company.
The mining giant BHP also increased by approximately 0.4 percent following the announcement of the company that it would no longer be interested in a merger with the British miner Anglo American.
The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong increased by 1.41 percent, stimulated by the tech and medical stocks, and the CSI 300 of mainland China was just short of flatline. Meanwhile, Japan’s markets remain closed on a public holiday.
