MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan surged 1.5%
Asian shares rose on Thursday, tracking a tech-driven rally on Wall Street, while the dollar held onto gains after U.S. core inflation surprised slightly on the upside and dashed hopes of a large rate cut by the Fed next week.
Investors are now awaiting a policy decision from the ECB later in the day where a rate cut is almost a certainty, but the question remains whether it would move again in both October and December.
Europe is set for solid gains ahead of the ECB risk event, with EUROSTOXX 50 futures climbing 1.3% and FTSE futures adding 1.1%. Nasdaq futures also turned higher, last up 0.3%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan surged 1.5%. The Nikkei climbed 3.3%, helped by a softer yen, which retreated from its 2024 high of 140.71 per dollar.
The dollar was last up another 0.3% to 142.75 yen, having been pressured earlier by hawkish comments from a senior BoJ official who called for raising rates at least to 1%.
Overnight, U.S. data showed core CPI gained 0.28% in August, compared with forecasts for an increase of 0.2%. It was enough of a steer for markets to almost abandon the possibility of a half-point rate cut from the Fed next week, with chance for such a move at just 15%.
Tech-heavy share markets followed suit, with Taiwan gaining 2.8% and South Korea adding 1.7%.
China’s share markets were subdued, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.2%.
In the foreign exchange market, the dollar traded near a four-week high versus the euro, which declined to $1.1015, not far from Wednesday’s low of $1.1002 – the weakest since August 16.
