Asian Shares Up On Wall Street Tech Boost

Asian shares bounced on Thursday, tracking a tech-driven rally on Wall Street, while the dollar held onto gains after US core inflation data came in slightly above expectations, dashing hopes of a large rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week, Stella Qiu reported for Reuters.

Taiwan added 2.8%, and South Korea gained 1.7%. I Photo: Yeongdeungpo-gu

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rallied 1.5%. The Nikkei surged 3.3%, buoyed by a weaker yen, which retreated from its 2024 high of 140.71 per dollar.

The dollar rose another 0.3% to 142.75 yen, supported earlier by hawkish comments from a senior Bank of Japan official calling for raising rates to at least 1%.

Overnight, US data showed that the core Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.28% in August, compared with forecasts for a 0.2% rise. This steered market sentiment away from expectations of a half-point rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week, with the probability for such a move now just 15%.

“We wanted answers to settle the 25bp vs 50bp Fed rate cut debate on Friday, but it seems the market has made up its own mind,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone, referencing the mixed August payrolls report last Friday.

Taiwan added 2.8%, and South Korea gained 1.7%, while China's share markets were more subdued, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 1.2%.