The Sydney Opera House Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
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Asia-Pacific stocks rose Thursday as investors expect the European Central Bank to cut rates, with softer U.S. labor market data fueling hopes that the Fed might follow suit, further boosting market sentiment.
The ECB this week appears set to cut borrowing costs for the euro area for the first time since September 2019.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 0.91%, approaching the 39,000 mark for the first time in two weeks, while the broad-based Topix gained 0.61%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 inched up 0.7%, as the country’s exports fell to its lowest level since Dec 2021.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumped 0.7%, paring earlier gains while the CSI 300 on mainland China was marginally above the flatline.
South Korea’s markets were closed for a public holiday.
Overnight in the U.S., Nvidia led major tech stocks higher and slightly weak labor market data gave investors hope the Federal Reserve might move to lower interest rates later this year.
The S&P500 rose 1.18% to close at 5,354.03, a fresh record, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.96% to 17,187.90, also a new record, as Nvidia shares jumped to make it the world’s second most valuable company.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average trailed a bit as stocks outside of technology underperformed, adding just 0.25%.
— CNBC’s Brian Evans and Alex Harring contributed to this report.