Asian markets rise after Wall Street surge fueled by slowing US inflation and rate cut hopes.

From Yahoo Finance: 2024-07-29 04:22:35

Speculation is rising over the possibility of the Bank of Japan raising interest rates at its upcoming meeting, while Asian markets rose on Monday following a surge on Wall Street driven by slowing US inflation data, fueling hopes of a Federal Reserve rate cut. The upbeat sentiment coincides with the busy week ahead, featuring central bank policy decisions, key US jobs data, and earnings releases from megacap companies. Despite steep losses last week, all three main US indexes surged over one percent on Friday led by the prospect of a rate cut in September. Tokyo, Hong Kong, Sydney, and other Asian markets made gains, while London and Frankfurt also rose. The Bank of Japan is scheduled to make an announcement on its monetary policy this Wednesday, with the yen strengthening against the dollar amid expectations of potential rate hikes.

At approximately 0810 GMT, key market figures showed the Nikkei 225 up by 2.1 percent, the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index up by 1.3 percent, and the Shanghai Composite flat. London’s FTSE 100 rose by 0.5 percent, while the dollar/yen rate decreased to 153.66 yen, the euro/dollar rate dipped to $1.0845, and the pound/dollar rate fell to $1.2834. Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices were up 0.1 percent at $77.26 per barrel, and Brent North Sea Crude edged up 0.2 percent to $80.44 per barrel. Closing New York figures saw the Dow up by 1.6 percent at 40,589.34.



Read more at Yahoo Finance: Asian markets extend Wall St rally after US data and ahead of Fed