Asian Markets Mostly Higher In Holiday Trade

Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Wednesday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with most of the major markets in the region including China, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea closed for Lunar New Year holidays. Traders remain cautious ahead of the US Fed’s interest rate decision later in the day. Asian markets closed mostly lower on Tuesday.

The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but traders will pay watch for the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates.

Recent economic data has led to concerns about the Fed leaving rates on hold for a prolonged period, but many economists still expect the central bank to resume cutting rates sometime in the first half of the year.

CME Group’s FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 74.5 percent chance rates will be lower by at least a quarter point following the Fed’s June meeting.

Australian shares are trading significantly higher on Wednesday, reversing the slight losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well above the 8,450 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains across most sectors led by technology, energy and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 77.00 points or 0.92 percent to 8,476.10, after touching a high of 8,480.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 82.90 points or 0.96 percent to 8,727.40. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is edging down 0.2 percent and Rio Tinto is declining almost 1 percent, while Mineral Resources is gaining 1.5 percent and Fortescue Metals is adding more than 1 percent.

Oil stocks are higher. Woodside Energy is gaining almost 2 percent and Beach energy is adding more than 1 percent, while Santos and Origin Energy are edging up 0.3 to 0.5 percent each.

In the tech space, Appen is gaining more than 4 percent, WiseTech Global is advancing almost 4 percent, Xero is adding 2.5 percent and Zip is up more than 2 percent. Afterpay owner Block is in a trading halt.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is adding almost 1 percent and National Australia Bank is edging up 0.4 percent, while ANZ Banking and Westpac are gaining more than 1 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is gaining almost 2 percent, Resolute Mining is advancing almost 4 percent and Northern Star Resources is adding more than 1 percent, while Gold Road Resources and Newmont are up almost 1 percent each.

In other news, shares in Boss Energy are soaring almost 11 percent after the uranium miner revealed a strong operational performance from its Honeymoon project.

In economic news, consumer prices in Australia were up a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2024, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday – shy of forecasts for 0.3 percent but unchanged from the previous quarter. On an annualized basis, inflation rose 2.4 percent – also missing forecasts for 2.5 percent and down from 2.8 percent in Q3.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.624 on Wednesday.

The Japanese stock market is trading notably higher on Wednesday, snapping the three-session losing-streak, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving up well above the 39,200 level, with gains in some index heavyweights and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 39,232.75, up 215.88 points or 0.55 percent, after touching a high of 39,448.24 earlier. Japanese stocks ended sharply lower on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.5 percent, while Toyota is gaining almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest, Tokyo Electron and Screen Holdings are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging down 0.1 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is advancing more than 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Canon is edging up 0.5 percent and Sony is advancing more than 3 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric is losing almost 1 percent and Panasonic is edging down 0.1 percent.

Among other major gainers, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and IHI are gaining more than 3 percent each, while Nomura Research Institute, TDK Nitto Denko, Trend Micro and Furukawa Electric are adding almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Nisshin Seifun is losing more than 3 percent and Disco is declining almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 155 yen-range on Wednesday.

Elsewhere in Asia, New Zealand is up 0.2 percent, while all other markets, including China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia, are closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.

On the Wall Street, stocks showed a strong move back to the upside during trading on Tuesday after seeing considerable weakness in the previous session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the way higher after posting a particularly steep loss on Monday.

The Nasdaq surged 391.75 points or 2.0 percent to 19,733.59, partly offsetting the 3.1 percent plunge seen during yesterday’s session. The S&P 500 also jumped 55.42 points or 0.9 percent to 6,067.70, while the narrower Dow rose 136.77 points or 0.3 percent to 44,850.35.

Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day mixed. While the French CAC 40 Index slipped 0.1 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index rose 0.4 percent and the German DAX Index climbed 0.7 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Tuesday amid disruptions to supply from Libya as protesters prevented tankers from loading at the country’s two major ports. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February closed higher by $0.60 or about 0.82 percent at $73.77 a barrel.

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