CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian markets are a sea of green on Thursday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, boosted by strong gains in technology stocks after the sector regained confidence in the artificial intelligence trade on upbeat earnings results from chip giant and AI darling Nvidia. Traders also continued to pick up stocks at reduced levels following the significant weakness of the past few sessions. Asian markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, minutes of the US Fed's latest monetary policy meeting of late October revealed officials had expressed 'strongly differing views' about the outlook for interest rates.
While the Fed said most participants agreed that it would be appropriate to eventually lower rates, several indicated that they did not necessarily view another 25 basis point rate cut as likely to be appropriate at the December meeting. Many participants suggested that it would likely be appropriate to keep rates unchanged for the rest of the year.
CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 32.8 percent chance the Fed will lower rates by another quarter point in December, down sharply from 93.7 percent a month ago. It also indicated a 67.2 percent chance of rates being unchanged.
The Australian market is trading significantly higher on Thursday, reversing to the losses in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well above the 8,500 level, with gains across most sectors led by technology stocks. Energy stocks were the only weak spot amid tumbling crude oil prices.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 92.00 points or 1.09 percent to 8,539.90, after touching a high of 8,545.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 100.70 points or 1.16 percent to 8,822.10. Australian stocks ended modestly lower on Wednesday.
Among major miners, BHP Group and Fortescue are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is advancing almost 2 percent and Rio Tinto is edging up 0.5 percent.
Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy and Woodside Energy are losing almost 1 percent each, while Santos is down more than 1 percent and Origin Energy is declining almost 4 percent.
In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is jumping almost 13 percent, Appen is surging almost 5 percent, Zip is soaring more than 8 percent, Xero is advancing almost 6 percent and WiseTech Global is adding more than 4 percent.
Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking, National Australia Bank and Westpac are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank is gaining more than 1 percent.
Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources, Resolute Mining and Newmont are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Genesis Minerals is adding more than 2 percent and Evolution Mining is advancing almost 3 percent.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.648 on Thursday.
The Japanese market is trading sharply higher on Thursday, snapping a four-session losing streak, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is surging more than 3 percent to be above the 50,000 mark, with gains across most sectors led by exporters and technology stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 50,025.10, up 1,487.40 points or 3.06 percent, after touching a high of 50,574.82 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Wednesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is surging more than 6 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining almost 3 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is gaining almost 1 percent, while Honda is edging down 0.4 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is jumping more than 8 percent, Screen Holdings is advancing more than 7 percent and Tokyo Electron is surging more than 6 percent.
In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining almost 2 percent, Mizuho Financial is advancing more than 2 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding more than 1 percent.
Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is surging almost 6 percent, Sony is advancing almost 5 percent, Canon is gaining almost 3 percent and Panasonic is adding almost 4 percent.
Among other major gainers, Ibiden is skyrocketing almost 12 percent, while Fujikura, Disco and Sompo Holdings are soaring more than 9 percent each. Sumitomo Electric Industries, Taiyo Yuden, Mitsui Kinzoku and Resonac Holdings are surging more than 7 percent each, while Lasertec, TDK and Furukawa Electric are jumping more than 6 percent each.
Conversely, Tokyo Electric Power is tumbling more than 6 percent, Tokio Marine is slipping almost 6 percent and Nitori Holdings is losing almost 3 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 157 yen-range on Thursday.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea and Taiwan are surging 2.7 and 2.6 percent, respectively. New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are higher by between 0.1 and 0.7 percent each.
On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Wednesday after failing to sustain an early rally, before eventually ending the day mostly higher. The major averages all closed in positive territory after spending the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq closed up 131.38 points or 0.6 percent at 22,564.23 but had surged by as much as 1.7 percent in early trading. The S&P 500 also rose 24.84 points or 0.4 percent to 6,642.16, while the narrower Dow inched up 47.03 points or 0.1 percent to 46,138.77.
Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside over the course of the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.2 percent and the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent.
Crude oil prices tumbled on Wednesday, with various data points reinforcing oversupply concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $1.22 or 2.01 percent at $59.52 per barrel.
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