Asian stocks climb, dollar droops on Fed easing bets

New Straits Times

8 hours ago

TOKYO: Asian equities rose on Thursday, with Japanese shares hitting a record high, as tech-led gains on Wall Street, upbeat earnings and growing expectations for US rate cuts boosted sentiment.
The prospect of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine also underpinned sentiment, benefitting the euro, while weighing on oil prices as traders gauged the outlook for sanctions on Moscow.
Sterling held its ground at a one-week high going into the Bank of England's policy announcement later in the day, with a quarter-point cut widely expected, and the focus falling on a possible three-way split within the board.
At the same time, markets largely shook off Trump's latest tariff threats, including an additional 25 per cent tariff on India over purchases of Russian oil and a threatened 100 per cent duty on chips.
Japan's broad Topix index rose 0.9 per cent to reach an all-time high, with the more tech-focused Nikkei also gaining by about the same margin.
Taiwan's stock benchmark surged 2.3 per cent to a more than one-year peak. South Korea's KOSPI added 0.6 per cent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.4 per cent, and mainland Chinese blue chips advanced 0.3 per cent.
Australian shares edged slightly lower after hitting a record high on Wednesday.
US stock futures were buoyant, with those for the S&P 500 up 0.3 per cent and those for the Nasdaq also rising 0.3 per cent. On Wednesday, the S&P 500 climbed 0.7 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.2 per cent.
"Wall Street seems to have gotten its mojo back," Capital.com analyst Kyle Rodda wrote in a note.
"However, there are persistent risks to the downside. Downside surprises in official data are increasing," he said.
"Valuations are also stretched, with forward price to earnings hovering around the highest in four years. And trade uncertainty persists."
The US dollar remained lower against major peers on Thursday, with expectations of easier policy from the Federal Reserve stoked both by some disappointing macroeconomic indicators - not least Friday's payrolls report - and Trump's move to install new picks on the Fed board that are likely to share the US President's dovish views on monetary policy.
Focus is centring on Trump's nomination to fill a coming vacancy on the Fed's Board of Governors and candidates for the next chair of the central bank, with current Chair Jerome Powell's tenure due to end in May.
The dollar index, which gauges the currency against the euro, sterling and four other counterparts, gained slightly to 98.245, after dropping 0.6 per cent on Wednesday.
The euro was little changed at US$1.1657, following the previous session's 0.7 per cent jump.
Sterling was steady at US$1.3356.
The BoE looks poised to cut interest rates for the fifth time in 12 months later on Thursday, but nagging worries about inflation are likely to split its policymakers and cloud the outlook for its next moves.
Two Monetary Policy Committee members may push for a half-point rate cut, and two may lobby for no change.
The dollar added 0.1 per cent to 147.53 yen.
Gold gained 0.4 per cent to around US$3,382 per ounce, buoyed by the weaker dollar.
Crude oil clawed back some losses from Wednesday, when both Brent and West Texas Intermediate slid about 1 per cent.
Brent crude futures were last up 20 cents, or 0.3 per cent, at US$67.09 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude gained 22 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to US$64.57 a barrel.