Asian Markets Track Wall Street Higher

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Monday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, on renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates. Traders are also cautious and reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump amid speculations on the potential impact of his policies. Asian markets closed mixed on Friday.

Adding to the interest rate optimism, US Fed Governor Christopher Waller told CNBC the central bank could lower interest rates multiple times this year if inflation eases as he is expecting. Waller added that the number of rate cuts would be driven by the data, suggesting the Fed could cut rates three or four times if there is a lot of progress on inflation or cut rates twice or only once if inflation remains sticky.

The Australian stock market is currently trading modestly higher on Monday, reversing the losses in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is moving up to stay well above the 8,300.00 level, with gains across most sectors led by iron ore miners and technology stocks. Gold miners are the only weak spot.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 15.10 points or 0.18 percent to 8,325.50, after touching a high of 8,348.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 14.70 points or 0.17 percent to 8,572.10. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is edging up 0.5 percent and Rio Tinto is advancing almost 1 percent, while Fortescue Metals and Mineral Resources are edging down 0.1 to 0.2 percent each. Oil stocks are higher. Woodside Energy and Origin Energy are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Santos is edging up 0.3 percent. Beach energy is losing almost 2 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 1 percent, Zip is edging up 0.2 percent and Appen is advancing more than 4 percent, while WiseTech Global and Xero are edging down 0.2 percent each.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Evolution Mining is losing more than 1 percent, Resolute Mining is declining almost 4 percent, Northern Star Resources is down almost 3 percent and Newmont is edging down 0.1 percent, while Gold Road Resources is adding more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Westpac, National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Commonwealth Bank are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each.

In other news, shares in Star Entertainment are tumbling more than 7 percent after the embattled casino operator warned shareholders that unless it finds a new source of funding, its ability to stay afloat is in question.

Shares in Iress jumped more than 4 percent after the software provider announced the sale of its superannuation business to Apex Group for $40 million in cash.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.621 on Monday.

The Japanese stock market is sharply higher on Monday, reversing the losses in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 moving up to near the 38,900 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights, financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 38,948.47, up 497.01 points or 1.29 percent, after touching a high of 39,032.93 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is up almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is adding almost 1 percent and Toyota is gaining more than 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Screen Holdings is adding almost 5 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining almost 2 percent, Mizuho Financial is adding more than 2 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is up more than 1 percent.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric are gaining 1.5 percent each, while Sony is up more than 1 percent and Canon is adding almost 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Daiichi Sankyo are surging more than 6 percent after the US FDA approved a breast cancer drug it developed in collaboration with AstraZeneca.

Among the other major gainers, Taiheiyo Cement is advancing almost 4 percent and Resonac Holdings is gaining more than 3 percent, while Fanuc, Hitachi, Subaru, Konica Minolta and Japan Steel Works are adding almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

In economic news, the value of core machinery orders in Japan was up a seasonally adjusted 3.4 percent on month in November, the Cabinet Office said on Monday - coming in at 899.6 billion yen. That exceeded expectations for a decline of 0.7 percent following the 2.1 percent increase in October. On a yearly basis, orders jumped 10.3 percent - again topping forecasts for 5.6 percent, which would have been unchanged from the October reading. The total value of machinery orders received by 280 manufacturers operating in Japan decreased 14.4 percent on month and gained 10.7 percent on year in November.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 155 yen-range on Monday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong is up 2.3 percent, while China, Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia are higher by between 0.2 and 0.8 percent each. New Zealand and Singapore are down 0.4 and 0.2 percent, respectively. South Korea is relatively flat.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a strong move to the upside during trading on Friday, with the major averages more than offsetting the losses posted in the previous session. With the upward move, the Dow ended the day at its best closing level in a month.

The major averages pulled back off their best levels in the latter part of the session but remained firmly positive. The Nasdaq surged 291.91 points or 1.5 percent to 19,630.20, the S&P 500 jumped 59.32 points or 1.0 percent to 5,996.66 and the Dow climbed 334.70 points or 0.8 percent to 43,487.83.

The major European markets also showed strong moves to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index surged 1.4 percent, the German DAX Index shot up 1.2 percent and the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.0 percent.

Crude oil prices showed a notable move to the downside on Friday, extending the sharp pullback seen in the previous session. West Texas Intermediate for February delivery was down $0.80 or 1 percent to $77.88 a barrel on Friday; for the week, crude rose about 1 percent.