TOKYO — Asian shares traded mostly higher Monday, cheered by a record finish last week on Wall Street.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 1.5% in morning trading to 45,729.33, rebounding from the decline late last week over concerns about the Bank of Japan’s selling its holdings. Such concerns abated as markets began to see any move as gradual.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4% to 8,811.10. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.8% to 3,472.82. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.9% to 26,306.60, while the Shanghai Composite was little changed, inching up less than 0.1% to 3,821.83.
The S&P 500 rose 0.5% to close out its sixth winning week in the last seven. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 172 points, or 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.7%. All three hit all-time highs for a second straight day.
The S&P 500 rose 32.40 points to 6,664.36. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 172.85 to 46,315.27, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 160.75 to 22,631.48.
The rally has come on the back of expectations that the Federal Reserve will continue to cut interest rates in order to give the economy a boost. The central bank lowered them for the first time this year last Wednesday.
If the Fed keeps cutting interest rates, that could give the struggling housing market a boost. But the growing expectations mean the market could be in for a disappointment and drop sharply if the Fed does not cut as much as traders expect.
Fed officials have said more rate cuts are likely this year and next. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said last week that the central bank may have to react quickly because inflation is remaining stubbornly high in the American economy while the job market is slowing, all the while as President Donald Trump’s tariffs threaten to push inflation higher.
“Every time the market seems to be running out of momentum, it fools most of us by pushing to higher heights,” said Jay Woods, chief market strategist at Freedom Capital Markets.
“As traders continue to monitor new highs on a daily basis, they are really focused on what Fed officials will have to say as they make the speaking rounds this week.”
In the bond market, Treasury yields ended last week being relatively steady. The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged up to 4.12% last Friday from 4.11% late Thursday.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude rose 34 cents to $63.02 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added 40 cents to $67.08 a barrel.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 148.31 Japanese yen from 147.91 yen. The euro cost $1.1733, down from $1.1745.
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