The sails of the Opera House are illuminated with projections on the opening night of Vivid Sydney 2023 in Sydney, Australia, on Friday, May 26, 2023.
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Asia-Pacific markets climbed on Tuesday, extending gains from the previous session, as Wall Street rose overnight on expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates.
In Asia, investors await the Reserve Bank of Australia decision on rates as the bank concludes its two-day monetary policy meeting. Economists polled by Reuters expect the RBA to hold its benchmark lending rate at 4.35% for its fourth meeting in a row.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.38% ahead of the decision, on course to gain for a fourth straight day.
South Korea’s Kospi popped 1.8% to hit a one-month high as trading resumed after a public holiday. The small-cap Kosdaq rose 0.61%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 also resumed trading after a holiday to rise 1%, while the broad-based Topix gained 0.19%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index edged 0.31% higher, while mainland China’s CSI 300 was flat.
Overnight in the U.S., an announcement from Hamas on Monday that it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal to end the war with Israel also gave stocks a boost, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average notching a fourth consecutive winning session, up 0.46%.
The S&P 500 advanced 1.03%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.19%.
— CNBC’s Brian Evans and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.