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, as markets continued to benefit from optimism about the outlook for interest rates following the release of the latest US inflation data. Asian Markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday.

Following the recent latest batch of economic data, CME Group's FedWatch tool is indicating a 94.2 percent chance the US Fed will lower interest rates by a quarter point next month.

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 8,300 level to fresh all-time highs, with gains in energy and financial stocks as well as some mining and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 60.40 points or 0.73 percent to 8,345.10, after touching an all-time high of 8,384.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 57.00 points or 0.67 percent to 8,613.60. Australian stocks ended modestly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto, Mineral Resources and Fortescue Metals are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while BHP Group is edging down 0.2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy, Beach energy and Santos are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Origin Energy is gaining almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 3 percent, Xero is adding more than 1 percent and Zip is edging up 0.2 percent, while WiseTech Global is declining almost 4 percent and Appen is losing more than 3 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are gaining almost 1 percent each, while National Australia Bank is adding more than 1 percent and Westpac is advancing almost 2 percent.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Resolute Mining is gaining more than 1 percent, Gold Road Resources is edging up 0.5 percent and Newmont is adding almost 1 percent.

In other news, shares in AMP Ltd are surging almost 14 percent after the wealth manager reported strong business growth in the third quarter.

In economic news, the unemployment rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 4.1 percent in September, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. That was below estimates for 4.2 percent, which would have been unchanged from the August reading.

The Australian economy added 64,100 jobs last month, blowing away forecasts for an increase of 25,200 jobs following the addition of 47,500 jobs in the previous month. The participation rate ticked up to 67.2 percent, beating expectations for 67.1 percent - which would have been unchanged.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.670 on Thursday.

Adding to the losses in the previous session, the Japanese market is notably lower on Thursday after opening in the green, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling well below the 39,000 mark, with weakness in exporters and technology stocks partially offset by gains in automakers and financial stocks.

Traders also reacted to domestic data that showed Japan posting a trade deficit in September as exports unexpectedly declined, while imports growth slowed.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 38,944.93, down 235.37 points or 0.60 percent, after touching a high of 39,299.74 and a low of 38,932.69 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.4 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.3 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is gaining almost 2 percent and Honda is adding almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Tokyo Electron is losing more than 2 percent, Advantest is declining almost 3 percent and Screen Holdings is down almost 1 percent.

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

Among the major exporters, Sony and Canon are edging down 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric is losing almost 1 percent each. Panasonic is advancing almost 1 percent.

Among other major losers, Fujikura is losing almost 5 percent and ZOZO is down more than 3 percent, while BANDAI NAMCO and Hoya are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Chubu Electric Power is surging more than 4 percent, while Tokyo Electric Power and Kansai Electric Power are gaining almost 4 percent each. Toho is adding more than 3 percent and Subaru is advancing almost 3 percent.

In economic news, Japan posted a merchandise trade deficit of 294.3 billion yen in September, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday. That missed forecasts for a shortfall of 237.6 billion yen following the downwardly revised 703.2 billion yen deficit in August (originally -695.3 billion yen).

Exports fell 1.7 percent on year to 9.038 trillion yen - shy of expectations for an increase of 0.5 percent following the downwardly revised 5.5 percent increase in the previous month (originally 5.6 percent). Imports rose an annual 2.1 percent to 9.332 trillion yen versus expectations for a gain of 3.2 percent following the 2.3 percent increase a month earlier.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 149 yen-range on Thursday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong and Singapore are up 1.3 and 1.0 percent, respectively, while New Zealand, China, South Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia are higher by between 0.1 and 0.6 percent each. Taiwan is relatively flat. On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction early in the session on Wednesday but moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day. With the upward move, the Dow more than offset the loss posted during Tuesday's session, reaching a new record closing high.

The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line in early trading but climbed more firmly into positive territory as the day progressed. The Dow jumped 337.28 points or 0.8 percent to 43,077.70, the Nasdaq rose 51.49 points or 0.3 percent to 18,367.08 and the S&P 500 climbed 27.21 points or 0.5 percent to 5,842.47.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.0 percent, the German DAX Index slipped by 0.3 percent and the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices settled lower on Wednesday, weighed down by concerns about weak demand from China and easing geopolitical worries. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended down $0.19 at $70.39 a barrel.