Asian Markets Track Wall Street Higher

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher Monday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, as traders react to US after Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech that signaled the central bank is prepared to begin cutting interest rates at its next monetary policy meeting in September. Asian markets closed mixed on Friday.

"The time has come for policy to adjust," Powell said at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, although he noted the "timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks."

Powell said inflation is now much closer to the Fed's objective, with consumer prices rising 2.5 percent year-over-year in July, and noted progress toward 2 percent has resumed after a pause earlier this year.

The Australian stock market is trading notably higher on Monday, recouping the slight losses in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is staying well above the 8,000.00 mark, with gains across most sectors led by energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 37.40 points or 0.47 percent to 8,061.30, after touching a high of 8,086.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 42.80 points or 0.52 percent to 8,291.90. Australian stocks closed slightly lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and Mineral Resources are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is gaining more than 1 percent. Rio Tinto is edging down 0.1 percent. Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy is gaining more than 1 percent, Woodside Energy is adding almost 2 percent and Origin Energy is edging up 0.3 percent, while Santos is losing more than 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, WiseTech Global is gaining almost 1 percent, Zip is is adding almost 4 percent and Appen is soaring more than 10 percent, while Afterpay owner Block and Xero are flat.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Newmont, Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Gold Road Resources is losing almost 4 percent. Resolute Mining is gaining almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are gaining more than 1 percent each, while National Australia Bank is edging up 0.5 percent and ANZ Banking is adding almost 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Kelsian Group are tumbling more than 19 percent after the bus and ferry operator flagged a major $185 million reinvestment into the company this year.

Shares in Aussie Broadband are surging more than 8 percent after it issued a 4 cent dividend to investors as full-year revenue jumped 26 percent and profits climbed 21 per cent.

Shares in NIB holdings are slumping more than 15 percent despite the company reporting a 67.4 percent increase in full-year net profit and a 9.3 percent rise in group revenue.

Shares in Tyro are surging almost 13 percent as its after-tax profits quadrupled and chief executive Jon Davey flagged it would enter "two new verticals" over the next 12 months.

Shares in Kogan.com are climbing more than 9 percent as the online retailer declared a final dividend of 7.5 cents after it narrowly returned to profitability in 2023-24.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.679 on Monday.

The Japanese stock market is trading significantly lower on Monday, giving up the gains in the previous two sessions. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 38,000 mark, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, with weakness in exporters, technology and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 37,944.68, down 419.59 or 1.09 percent, after hitting a low of 37,825.31 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly higher on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is flat and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is declining more than 3 percent, while Toyota is losing more than 2 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is losing almost 2 percent, Advantest is declining 2.5 percent and Tokyo Electron is down more than 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging up 0.5 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing almost 2 percent and Mizuho Financial is sliding more than 2 percent.

The major exporters are lower. Canon and Mitsubishi Electric are slipping almost 2 percent each, while Sony is losing almost 1 percent and Panasonic is down more than 1 percent.

Among other major losers, Isetan Mitsukoshi is slipping almost 5 percent, while Furukawa Electric, Yamaha Motor, Nissan Motor and Taiyo Yuden are losing more than 4 percent each. TDK, Chugai Pharmaceutical, Mazda Motor and Sumco are declining almost 4 percent each, while Kikkoman, Suzuki Motor, Mitsubishi Motors are down more than 3 percent each. Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Subaru are sliding almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, LY is gaining almost 5 percent and Nitori Holdings in adding almost 4 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 143 yen-range on Monday.

Elsewhere in Asia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia are higher by between 0.1 and 0.9 percent each. China and South Korea are down 0.3 percent. Singapore is relatively flat.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a strong move back to the upside during trading on Friday following the pullback seen over the course of the previous session. The major averages all moved sharply higher, with the Dow and the S&P 500 reaching their best closing levels since reaching record highs in mid-July.

The major averages gave back ground after an early rally but showed another notable advance late in the session. The Dow jumped 462.30 points or 1.1 percent to 41,175.08, the Nasdaq surged 258.44 points or 1.5 percent to 17,877.79 and the S&P shot up 63.97 points or 1.2 percent to 5,634.61.

The major European markets all also moved higher on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.5 percent, while the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index advanced by 0.7 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices showed another strong move to the upside on Friday following the rebound in the previous session. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery surged $1.82 or 2.5 percent to $74.83 a barrel after jumping $1.08 or 1.5 percent to $73.01 a barrel during Thursday's session. But the price of crude oil fell by 0.9 for the week due to sell-off earlier in the week.