Asian Markets Track Wall Street Higher

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Thursday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, on an improved outlook for interest rates after the US Fed announced its widely expected decision to again leave interest rates unchanged but signaled that it is still likely to lower rates twice later this year. Meanwhile, traders continued to assess the impact of US tariffs on the global economy. Asian Markets closed mixed on Wednesday.

The accompanying statement by the Fed noted "uncertainty around the economic outlook has increased," and the Fed said it is "attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate." Fed officials still forecast rates in a range of 3.75 to 4.0 percent by the end of the year.

However, global ratings agency Fitch has lowered its global growth forecast and warned that U.S. President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs will push up inflation and delay Fed rate cuts.

Traders now looked ahead to the monetary policy announcements from the Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank later in the day.

The Australian market is trading significantly higher on Thursday, reversing the losses in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 7,900 level, with gains across most sectors led by gold miners, financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 86.90 points or 1.11 percent to 7,915.20, after touching a high of 7,919.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 89.30 points or 1.11 percent to 8,144.60. Australian stocks ended notably lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto and BHP Group are losing almost 1 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is losing more than 2 percent and Mineral Resources is down more than 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mixed. Santos and Origin Energy are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Beach energy is down more than 1 percent and Woodside Energy is losing almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 4 percent and WiseTech Global is rising more than 2 percent, while Xero and Appen are advancing more than 1 percent each. Zip is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and ANZ Banking are gaining almost 2 percent each, while National Australia Bank is adding 1.5 percent. Among gold miners, Newmont and Resolute Mining are edging up 0.5 percent each, while Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining are advancing almost 3 percent each. Gold Road Resources is gaining almost 2 percent.

In corporate news, shares in Nanosonics are soaring more than 13 percent after US regulators approved its cleaning tool designed to clean endoscopes used in hospitals and reduce infection risk.

Share in TPG Telecom are surging almost 5 percent after the competition watchdog gave it a green light to proceed with its $5.25 billion sale of its fibre networks to Vocus Group.

Shares in Arafura Rare Earths are jumping almost 12 percent after it secured a binding five-year offtake agreement to supply 100 tonnes per year of neodymium-praseodymium oxide to Luxembourg-based metals and minerals trader Traxys Europe SA.

In economic news, the unemployment rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 4.1 percent in February, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday - in line with expectations and unchanged from the January reading.

But the Australian economy lost 52,800 jobs last month, the bureau said, well shy of expectations for an increase of 30,800 jobs following the addition of 44,000 in January. Full-time employment was down 35,700 jobs following the addition of 54,100 a month earlier.

The participation rate was 66.8 percent, again missing forecasts for 67.3 percent - which would have been unchanged from the previous month.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.634 on Thursday.

The Japanese market is closed for Vernal Equinox holiday on Thursday. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Wednesday.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 148 yen-range on Thursday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Indonesia and Taiwan are up 2.0 and 1.3 percent, respectively. New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Malaysia are higher by between 0.1 and 0.7 percent each. China and Hong Kong are down 0.3 and 1.0 percent, respectively. On Wall Street, stocks showed a strong move back to the upside during trading on Wednesday following the sharp pullback seen in the previous session. With the rally, the major averages largely offset Tuesday's steep losses.

The major averages pulled back off their best levels going into the close but remained sharply higher. The Nasdaq surged 246.67 points or 1.4 percent to 17,750.79, the S&P 500 jumped 60.63 points or 1.1 percent to 5,675.29 and the Dow climbed 383.32 points or 0.9 percent to 41,964.63.

Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day mixed. While the German DAX Index fell 0.4 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed just above the unchanged line and the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.7 percent.

Crude oil prices closed higher on Wednesday amid continued uncertainty about growth due to the impact of U.S. tariffs on some of its major trading partners. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April closed higher by $0.26 or 0.39 percent at $67.16 a barrel.