Nikkei 225 gained 0.9% to 40,425.27, S&P/ASX 200 added nearly 0.3% to 7,740.00, Kospi rose almost 0.1% to 2,782.42, Hang Seng advanced 0.9% to 17,924.43
Asian shares were mostly higher on Wednesday after Tesla shares soared more than 10%, helping to lift U.S. benchmarks to new records.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 0.9% in morning trading to 40,425.27. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added nearly 0.3% to 7,740.00. South Korea’s Kospi rose almost 0.1% to 2,782.42. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.9% to 17,924.43, while the Shanghai Composite declined 0.3% to 2,989.51.
Asian investors were cheered by hopes for an interest rate cut in the U.S. But some traders were keeping to the sidelines ahead of Thursday’s Independence Day holiday in the U.S.
On the radar is the Japan’s Nikkei, which may extend its run above the 40,000 level, with overnight strength in tech while the Japanese yen continues to trade at a 38-year low, according to Yeap Jun Rong, market analyst at IG.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar advanced to 161.63 Japanese yen from 161.43 yen. The euro cost $1.0747, little changed from $1.0749.
Among Tokyo technology-related shares, Kyocera Corp. climbed 2.2% in morning trading, while Murata Manufacturing Co. soared 5.2%.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 gained 0.6% to 5,509.01, topping its all-time high set two weeks ago. The DJIA added 0.4% to 39,331.85, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.8% to 18,028.76, beating its own record set a day earlier.
Tesla led the way with a 10.2% surge after the EV maker reported a milder decline in sales for the spring than analysts expected. Modest gains for other big, influential stocks also helped lift the market, including a 1.6% jump for Apple.
Stocks got a lift from easing Treasury yields after the head of the Fed made comments that investors took as a hint for possible cuts to interest rates later this year. Fed Chair Jerome Powell gave a nod to improvements in inflation data after some disappointingly high numbers early in the year.
We just want to understand that the levels that we are seeing are a true reading of underlying inflation, he said during a panel discussion at the ECB’s monetary policy conference in Sintra, Portugal.
Investors hope inflation will slow enough to convince the Federal Reserve to reduce its main interest rate, which has been staying at its highest level in over two decades and pressing the brakes on the economy.
Keeping Wall Street’s gains in check was Nvidia, which has been one of this year’s leading gainers. It dropped 1.3%, though it is still up almost 147.7% for the year so far.
