Asia shares buoyed by Fed pause bets; dollar heavy
Channel NewsAsia Best News Website or Mobile Service
WAN-IFRA Digital Media Awards Worldwide
Best News Website or Mobile Service
Digital Media Awards Worldwide
TOKYO : Asia-Pacific equities rose to their highest level since mid-February on Friday, taking cues from an overnight Wall Street rally as market bets firmed for the Federal Reserve to skip a rate hike next week.
Japanese and Australian bond yields followed those on U.S. Treasuries lower, and the dollar remained on the defensive early in the Asian session.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares added 0.6 per cent, and at one point touched its strongest level since Feb. 16.
Much of that was driven by a 1.66 per cent jump in Japan's Nikkei, which rebounded strongly following its plunge from a 33-year high in the previous session.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.21 per cent, while mainland Chinese blue chips edged 0.1 per cent higher.
On Wall Street, gains were led by the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which surged 1.27 per cent. The broader S&P 500 rose 0.62 per cent. E-mini U.S. equity futures in Asia pointed to about a 0.1 per cent lower restart for each of the indexes.
