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 are set to rise as investors await trade data from Australia and China on Thursday.
This also follows comments from U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, who reiterated his stance that while the central bank could start cutting rates, it is “not immediately ready.”
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.14%, nearing its all time high of 7,745.6 hit on March 1.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 looks to continue its run above the 40,000 mark, with the futures contract in Chicago at 40,360 and its counterpart in Osaka at 40,350 against the index’s last close of 40,090.78.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 16,565, higher than the HSI’s close of 16,438.09 and on pace to extend gains on Wednesday after it rose almost 2%.
Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes regained ground after two straight days of declines, although some names like Apple, Alphabet and Disney sat out of the rally.
The S&P 500 added 0.51%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.58%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded higher by 0.2%, although the blue-chip average was weighed down by a drop of more than 2% in Disney.
— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Alex Harring contributed to this report.