On Thursday, Asian stock markets traded mostly higher, largely due to positive cues from the global markets. The optimistic trend is a result of recent comments from US Federal Reserve officials regarding the interest rate outlook. Specifically, Fed Chair Jerome Powell reassured the markets during a speech at Stanford University that the central bank does not plan to reduce interest rates hastily. He emphasized that there could be a reduction in interest rates this year. This news follows the prior day's closure of Asian Markets, which mostly saw dip in values.
Australia's financial market exhibited a particularly positive performance, bouncing back from losses experienced over the last two sessions. This was predominantly due to the increased positivity from global markets. The main S&P/ASX 200 index exceeded the 7,800 mark, supported by gains in sectors such as technology, gold mining, and finance.
On Thursday, there were also rises in Rio Tinto and BHP Group, with each recording increases of 0.3 to 0.5 percent. Fortescue Metals, however, saw a drop of over 1 percent, while Mineral Resources saw an increase of more than 1 percent.
Within the tech sector, Appen showed notable growth with a rise of more than 7 percent. Afterpay owner Block and WiseTech Global and Xero also recorded gains of almost 2 percent while Zip dipped nearly 1 percent.
Among the country's largest banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking, and Westpac saw near 1 percent increases, while National Australia Bank saw a smaller increase of 0.4 percent.
Gold mining also looked promising, with Evolution Mining increasing almost 2 percent, Newmont increasing 0.4 percent, and Resolute Mining surging more than 3 percent.
Recent figures from the Judo Bank demonstrate continued growth for the Australian services sector, with a PMI score of 54.4 in March, up from 53.1 in February. Conversely, construction approvals in February were down by 1.9 percent, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The AUD is currently trading at $0.658.
The Japanese market also displayed considerable positivity, overcoming losses from the previous session. The influential Nikkei 225 index increased substantially, surpassing the 40,100 mark, driven largely by tech and finance sectors.
Heavyweight market players, SoftBank Group and Fast Retailing and Toyota and Honda made gains of over 2 percent. Meanwhile, tech spaces Advantest, Screen Holdings and Tokyo Electron saw investments increase by almost 1 to 2 percent. Major banks such as Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial recorded over 1 to 3 percent growth respectively.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar was trading in the high 151 yen-range.In other parts of Asia, countries like South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia have seen an increase between 0.4 and 1.0 percent. However, New Zealand is moving against this trend with a decrease of 0.2 percent. Markets in China and Hong Kong are closed due to the Ching Ming Festival, along with Taiwan which is shut for Children's Day.
Previously, Wall Street revealed that stocks bounced back from an initial downfall and spent the majority of Wednesday's trading session positively. Though the buying interest diminished later in the day, the major averages were still marginally mixed by the end of the day. Despite the Dow slipping down by 43.10 points or 0.1 percent to 39,127.14 (marking its third consecutive decline), the S&P 500 slightly rose by 5.68 points or 0.1 percent to 5,211.49 and the Nasdaq increased by 37.00 points or 0.2 percent to 16,277.46.
On the other hand, the primary European markets demonstrated an uptrend. The German DAX Index escalated by 0.5 percent while the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.3 percent. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index ended just slightly above the neutral line.
Furthermore, crude oil prices increased on Wednesday as the OPEC concluded their meeting without any alterations to its production policy. Consequentially, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for May ended on a higher note by $0.28 or 0.33 percent, standing at $85.43 a barrel.
