Asian shares climb as Fed rate cut keeps Wall Street near records
Markets in Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai rally while U.S. benchmarks hold near all-time highs after the Federal Reserve trims rates; policy projections point to further cuts this year and into 2026.
Asian shares climbed broadly Thursday, led by technology stocks, after Wall Street indexes briefly swung but remained near record levels following the Federal Reserve's rate cut. The move came as investors weighed the implications of the Fed's first rate cut this year and the path forward outlined by policymakers.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.3% to 45,365.98, with Disco, Tokyo Electron and SoftBank among the gainers. The Bank of Japan began its two-day policy meeting, with policymakers expected to hold rates unchanged.
South Korea's Kospi added nearly 1.3% to 3,455.98, with chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics among advancers. In China, markets were mixed: the Shanghai Composite edged up about 0.5% to 3,893.95, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.2% to 26,856.02, on optimism over trade negotiations with the United States and a potential TikTok agreement.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.5% to 8,778.60 as data released showed the jobless rate was unchanged at 4.2% in August, but headline employment fell by 5,400 while full-time jobs declined by 40,900.
India's BSE Sensex was up 0.4%, while Taiwan's Taiex added 1.1%.
On Wednesday, U.S. stocks meandered: the S&P 500 slipped 0.1% and hovered near its all-time high set earlier in the week, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose about 260 points and the Nasdaq composite fell about 0.3%. The moves came after the Fed's rate cut and the release of policymakers' projections for future rate paths.
The Fed's projections indicated the typical member sees rate cuts continuing in coming years, with two additional reductions by the end of this year and one more in 2026. Investors initially cheered that roadmap, but gains faded as Chair Jerome Powell stressed that the projections are not guarantees and that the policy path could change if growth or inflation shifts.
Inflation remains stubbornly high and the job market shows signs of cooling, complicating the Fed's balancing act as it uses interest-rate policy to address both higher prices and slower hiring.
In commodities, benchmark U.S. crude shed 10 cents to $63.95 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, fell 10 cents to $67.85 per barrel. The U.S. dollar rose to 147.07 Japanese yen from 146.89 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1813 from $1.1818.