The Asian-Pacific markets improved on Thursday, according to Wall Street, as expectations for a Fed rate cut increased and tech shares recovered.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index in Japan increased by 1.42 percent, powered by the tech stocks, with the Topix index up 0.64 percent.
Among the best movers were Advantest, which rose 5 percent, tech conglomerate SoftBank, which surged more than 5 percent, and Tokyo Electron, up 2.09 percent.
The Kospi of South Korea improved by 1.05 percent, and the small-cap Kosdaq increased by 0.39 percent. The Bank of Korea did not alter its benchmark interest rate, which was expected to remain at 2.5 percent, in its fourth policy meeting in a row, in the backdrop of a weak local currency and overheated housing market.
The Korean won has been drifting down against the greenback in recent months to its lowest point since April. Therefore, Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 soared 0.42 percent. The Hang Seng Index of Hong Kong rose by 0.12 percent at the open, and the CSI 300 of the mainland remained flat.
Government data released on Thursday reported that industrial profits of China dropped by 5.5 percent in October from the previous year.
Profits for the first 10 months of the year increased 1.9 percent year-on-year, in comparison to 3.2 percent up in the January to September period. However, India’s Nifty 50 gained 0.26 percent at the open, which reached a record high of 26,284.2. The BSE Sensex index has surged by 0.16 percent.
In the U.S., major indexes recorded four straight days of gains overnight on increased expectations of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in December.
The CME FedWatch tool indicated that investors witnessed an 85 percent chance of a quarter-percentage-point rate cut in December, which increased 30 percent last week.
The artificial intelligence shares player Oracle surged more than 4 percent on Wednesday, which led to the increase of major averages following Deutsche Bank’s reiterated bullish stance on the name.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 314.67 points, or 0.67 percent, to end at 47,427.12 on Wednesday stateside. The S&P 500 up 0.69 percent to settle at 6,812.61; therefore, the Nasdaq Composite soared 0.82 percent to end at 23,214.69.
