The sails of the Opera House are illuminated with projections on the opening night of Vivid Sydney 2023 in Sydney, Australia, on Friday, May 26, 2023.
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Asia-Pacific markets were set to extend gains from the previous session as Wall Street rose overnight on expectations that the Federal Reserve will cuts interest rates.
In Asia, investors await the Reserve Bank of Australia decision on rates as the bank concludes its two-day monetary policy meeting. Economists polled by Reuters expect the RBA to hold its benchmark lending rate at 4.35% for its fourth meeting in a row.
Futures for the S&P/ASX 200 point to a stronger open at 7,734 compared with its last close of 7,682.4.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 is also set to rise, with the futures contract in Chicago at 38,955 and its counterpart in Osaka at 38,900 against the index’s last close of 38,236.07.
However, futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 18,541, pointing to a slightly weaker open compared with the HSI’s close of 18,578.3.
Overnight in the U.S., an announcement from Hamas on Monday that it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal to end the war with Israel also gave stocks a boost, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average notching a fourth consecutive winning session, up 0.46%.
The S&P 500 advanced 1.03%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.19%.
— CNBC’s Brian Evans and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.