AP – Asian shares mostly rose yesterday, as market optimism got a boost from a rally on Wall Street on better-than-expected profit reports from major companies.
Trading is likely to stay relatively quiet ahead of the annual conference of central bankers at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell will give a much-anticipated speech today.
The hope is he’ll offer clues about how deeply and quickly the Fed will begin cutting interest rates in September after it jacked them to a two-decade high to beat inflation.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.7 per cent to finish at 38,211.01. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2 per cent to 8,027.00.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.2 per cent to 2,705.26 after the Bank of Korea decided at its monetary policy meeting to keep rates unchanged. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up 0.7 per cent to 17,512.51, while the Shanghai Composite fell 0.3 per cent to 2,847.20.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.4 per cent a day after breaking an eight-day winning streak, its longest of the year. The index is back to 5,620.85 – within 0.8 per cent of its all-time high set in July.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1 per cent to 40,890.49, while the Nasdaq composite gained 0.6 per cent to 17,918.99.
American companies continued to deliver what looks to be the best growth in profit for S&P 500 companies since late 2021.
Worries have been growing about whether shoppers in the United States (US) can keep up their spending and keep the slowing economy out of a recession. Inflation is slowing, but prices are nevertheless much higher than before the pandemic.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury has been sinking since April on such expectations. It eased a bit further on Wednesday, down to 3.79 per cent from 3.81 per cent late on Tuesday.
