Asian Markets Track Wall Street Higher

Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Thursday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders react to a key US inflation report that showed a bigger than expected increase in core inflation, raising expectations for a quarter-point rate cut at the US Fed’s monetary policy meeting next week. Asian Markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday.

The data seemingly reduced the chances of the Fed cutting interest rates by 50 basis points, but is still expected to continue lowering rates in the coming months.

Following the report, CME Group’s FedWatch Tool is indicating an 83% chance of a quarter point rate cut and just a 17% percent chance of a half-point rate cut.

The Australian market is notably higher on Thursday, recouping the losses in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 8,000 mark, with gains across most sectors led by mining and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 47.10 points or 0.59 percent to 8,035.00, after touching a high of 8,048.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 55.80 points or 0.68 percent to 8,251.00. Australian stocks ended modestly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto is gaining more than 1 percent, Mineral Resources is surging more than 5 percent and Fortescue Metals is adding almost 1 percent, while BHP Group is losing almost 2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy is gaining almost 1 percent, Woodside Energy is edging up 0.4 percent and Origin Energy is adding more than 1 percent, while Santos is flat.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 4 percent, Xero is adding more than 1 percent, Appen is surging almost 6 percent, WiseTech Global is up 2.5 percent and Zip is advancing more than 3 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Westpac is adding more than 1 percent and ANZ Banking is edging up 0.5 percent.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Gold Road Resources are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each, while Resolute Mining is advancing more than 3 percent and Northern Star Resources is gaining more than 1 percent. Newmont is losing more than 1 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.668 on Thursday.

Recouping the losses in the previous two sessions, the Japanese market is sharply higher on Thursday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving above the 36,600 level, with gains across all sectors led by index heavyweights and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 36,605.62, up 985.85 points or 2.77 percent, after touching a high of 36,873.37 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 8 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding almost 3 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is gaining almost 3 percent and Honda is adding more than 2 percent.

In the tech space, Tokyo Electron is gaining almost 4 percent, Advantest is surging than 7 percent and Screen Holdings is adding more than 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding more than 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Canon is gaining 1.5 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is adding more than 4 percent, Panasonic is advancing more than 2 percent and Sony is up more than 1 percent.

Among other major gainers, Ebara is skyrocketing almost 10 percent and IHI is soaring almost 9 percent, while Tokuyama and NEC are surging almost 7 percent each. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Omron, Hitachi and Fujikura are gaining almost 5 percent each, while Chugai Pharmaceutical, Fujitsu, Kuraray and UBE are adding more than 4 percent each.

Conversely, Daiichi Sankyo is losing almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid-142 yen-range on Thursday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Taiwan and South Korea are up 2.8 and 1.3 percent, respectively. New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are higher by between 0.1 and 0.8 percent each.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower early in the session on Wednesday but showed a substantial turnaround over the course of the trading day. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the recovery, with all of the major averages ending the day in positive territory.

After tumbling by as much as 1.4 percent in early trading, the Nasdaq surged 369.65 points or 2.2 percent to 17,395.53. The S&P 500 also jumped 58.61 points or 1.1 percent to 5,554.13, while the Dow rose 124.75 points or 0.3 percent to 40,861.71 after hitting its lowest intraday level in almost a month.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index rose by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.1 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index dipped by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices surged higher on Wednesday, recovering from a three-year low in the previous session thanks to fears of prolonged production shutdowns in the offshore oil patch due to Hurricane Francine. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended up by $1.56 or 2.37 percent at $67.31 a barrel.

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