SHANGHAI, CHINA – JUNE 08: Aerial view of skyscrapers standing at the Lujiazui Financial District at sunrise on June 8, 2022 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Zhang Zhuoming/VCG via Getty Images)
Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images
Hong Kong stocks led a rally among Asia-Pacific equity markets Thursday as investors embraced the U.S. Federal Reserve’s move to end its interest-rate-hiking cycle and signal cuts for the next year.
Optimism spilled over from Wall Street, which rallied as the Fed held rates at 5.25%-5.5% for a third straight time and laid out the timeline for at least three quarter-percentage point cuts in 2024 and beyond.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 1.6%, while China’s CSI 300 index gained 0.36%.
Forecasts for the core personal consumption expenditures price index — the Fed’s favored inflation gauge— have also been pared back by the Fed to 2.4% in 2024 and 2.2% in 2025, down from 2.6% and 2.3% respectively in its previous forecasts.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 started the day up 1.44%, hitting levels not seen since Aug. 1.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 reversed gains to fall 0.41%, while the Topix slipped 1.19%. The financial sector led declines in the region as investors in Japan awaited the Bank of Japan’s policy decision next week.
South Korea’s Kospi popped 1.40%, while the small-cap Kosdaq added 1.32%.
Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit record levels, gaining 1.4% and marking the first time the benchmark closed above the 37,000 level — breaking a previous record set in January 2022.
The S&P 500 jumped 1.37% and crossed the 4,700 mark for the first time since January 2022, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.38%. All three major averages hit fresh 52-week highs.
— CNBC’s Sarah Min and Brian Evans contributed to this report.