Asian shares take their lead from a firmer Wall Street
Equities track a surge on Wall Street, after the Fed suggests it may be nearing an end to its rate tightening cycle, boosting interest in riskier assets
Tokyo — Asian stocks advanced on Thursday, tracking a surge on Wall Street, after the chair of the US Federal Reserve suggested it may be nearing an end to its three-year rate tightening cycle, boosting interest in riskier assets. The dollar struggled and US treasury yields dipped after Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that US policy rates were “just below” neutral, less than two months after saying rates were probably “a long way” from that point. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.8%. The Shanghai Composite index edged up 0.2%, Australian stocks gained 0.5% and Japan’s Nikkei climbed 0.9%. However, gains in Asia were tempered by investor jitters ahead of high-stakes trade talks between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Saturday on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Argentina. Economists at ANZ pointed out that policy hawks in the Trump administration who want Washington to take a tough stance against Bei...
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