Asian markets rise on hopes over rate pause

Bangkok: Asian shares advanced on Wednesday after most stocks slipped on Wall Street following a mixed set of reports on the US economy. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.9 per cent to 16,477.34 points, while the Shanghai Composite edged 0.1 per cent higher, to 2,968.93pts. The gains followed selloffs the day before amid worries about the health of China’s economy, the world’s second largest. Tokyo’s Nikkei-225 added 2 per cent to 33,445.90 after a top central bank official reiterated the Bank of Japan’s determination to maintain its easy credit policy until it achieves a stable level of inflation. In Seoul, the Kospi was up less than 0.1 per cent, at 2,495.38. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 1.7 per cent to 7,178.40. India’s Sensex gained 0.3 per cent and the SET in Bangkok advanced 0.7 per cent.

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 edged 0.1 per cent lower for its first back-to-back loss since October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2 per cent and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.3 per cent. US stocks and Treasury yields wavered after reports showed that employers advertised far fewer job openings at the end of October than expected, while growth for services businesses accelerated more last month than expected.

That kept alive questions about whether the US economy can pull off a perfect landing where it snuffs out high inflation but avoids a recession. On Wall Street, KeyCorp fell 3.7per cent and led a slump for bank stocks after it cut its forecast for income from fees and other non-interest income. But gains of more than 2 per cent for Apple and Nvidia, two of the market’s most influential stocks, helped to blunt the losses. With inflation down from its peak two summers ago, Wall Street is hopeful the Federal Reserve may finally be done with its market-shaking hikes to interest rates and could soon turn to cutting rates. That could help the economy avoid a recession and give a boost to all kinds of investment prices. Tuesday’s report showed that employers advertised just 8.7 million jobs on the last day of October, down by 617,000 from a month earlier and the lowest level since 2021.

A separate report said that activity for US services industries expanded for the 41st time in the last 42 months, with growth reported by everything from agriculture to wholesale trade.