Asian Shares Follow Wall Street Higher On Rate Cut Hopes

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks followed Wall Street higher on Thursday, the dollar sagged, and Treasury yields dipped as more signs of cooling inflation in the U.S. fueled bets of a Federal Reserve rate cut in September.

Also, a mixed set of economic activity data from China boosted hopes for more stimulus.

Gold edged up in Asian trading while oil bounced back after two days of declines. Chinese markets rose as underwhelming data fueled hopes of economic stimulus.

Industrial production slowed for a third straight month in July, unemployment rose, and home sales pointed to continued weakness in the property sector, while retail sales, a key proxy for consumer spending, ticked up slightly from a year -a slew of data revealed.

China's Shanghai Composite index jumped 0.94 percent to 2,877.36 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index finished marginally lower at 17,109.14.

Tencent Holdings dropped 1.5 percent despite posting an 82 percent increase in second-quarter net income.

Japanese markets rose for a fourth day running as GDP data for the second quarter outpaced expectations.

The Nikkei average climbed 0.78 percent to 36,726.64 as data showed Japan's economy expanded by a faster-than-expected annualized 3.1 percent in the April-June period. The broader Topix index settled 0.73 percent higher at 2,600.75.

Banks Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial jumped 3-4 percent. Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing surged 2.1 percent, technology investor SoftBank Group added 2.2 percent and chip-making equipment giant Tokyo Electron rose 1.5 percent.

Markets in South Korea and India were closed. Australian stocks ended slightly higher after data showed unemployment rate ticked higher last month, but employers added about three times as many jobs as expected.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 inched up 0.19 percent to 7,865.50 while the broader All Ordinaries index settled up 0.17 percent at 8,083.80.

Industrial property investor and developer Goodman Group fell 1.3 percent despite reporting a robust full-year performance. Telecom firm Telstra rallied 2.1 percent after increasing its dividend.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index climbed 1.10 percent to 12,710.57 on expectations of lower interest rates and improvement in economic growth.

Skellerup surged 4.2 percent after posting solid earnings in a tough environment.

U.S. stocks ended a lackluster session mostly higher overnight as data showed consumer prices rose 2.9 percent year-over-year in July, down from 3 percent in June and the lowest reading since March 2021 - adding to bets of an interest rate cut at the Fed's September meeting.

The annual rate of core consumer price growth also slipped to 3.2 percent from 3.3 percent in June, matching expectations.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished marginally higher, and the S&P 500 rose 0.4 percent to close higher for the fifth consecutive session while the Dow inched up 0.6 percent.