Asian stock markets are predominantly trading higher on Wednesday, buoyed by broadly positive signals from Wall Street overnight. Investor optimism is on the rise following U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's remarks on Monday, indicating that inflation showed notable improvement across three readings in the second quarter of this year. Asian markets had a mixed close on Tuesday.
Powell commented, "If you wait until inflation gets all the way down to 2 percent, you've probably waited too long."
Meanwhile, markets are also adjusting to the increasing likelihood of a Trump presidency, which implies deregulation, tax cuts, and heightened fiscal spending—captured by the concept of the "Trump Trade."
In Australia, stock markets are seeing significant gains on Wednesday, recovering from losses in the prior session. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 surged beyond the 8,000 mark to reach new all-time highs, spurred by strong performances in gold miners and technology stocks.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index is up by 80.90 points or 1.01 percent, reaching 8,080.20, after hitting a fresh record high earlier at 8,080.60. The broader All Ordinaries Index climbed by 81.60 points or 0.99 percent to 8,324.90. On Tuesday, Australian stocks closed modestly lower.
In the mining sector, BHP Group fell by 0.4 percent and Fortescue Metals lost nearly 1 percent, whereas Mineral Resources saw a gain of almost 1 percent, and Rio Tinto edged up 0.2 percent.
Oil stocks mostly gained. Beach Energy and Origin Energy both edged up between 0.1 to 0.5 percent, while Santos rose by nearly 1 percent. Conversely, Woodside Energy dropped 0.1 percent. In the tech sector, Block (owner of Afterpay) and Xero both edged up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Appen jumped by nearly 3 percent and WiseTech Global gained over 3 percent. Zip remained flat.
Among the major banks, Commonwealth Bank saw a slight decline of 0.2 percent, while National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking, and Westpac edged up between 0.2 to 0.3 percent each.
Gold miners such as Newmont and Evolution Mining gained over 2 percent each, while Gold Road Resources and Northern Star Resources increased by almost 3 percent each. Resolute Mining surged by nearly 5 percent.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar is trading at $0.674 on Wednesday.
Japan's stock market also reflected positive trends on Wednesday, extending gains from the previous session, influenced by the overnight positive cues from Wall Street. The Nikkei 225 moved above the 41,300 level with marked gains in exporters, automakers, and financial stocks.
The Nikkei 225 Index ended the morning session at 41,307.36, up by 32.28 points or 0.08 percent, after reaching a high of 41,466.45 earlier in the day. Japanese stocks had closed modestly higher on Tuesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group dipped 0.2 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing edged up slightly by 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Honda gained over 1 percent, and Toyota was up 0.4 percent.
In the technology sector, Advantest fell by 0.5 percent and Tokyo Electron dropped over 3 percent, while Screen Holdings increased by almost 2 percent.
In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial increased by nearly 1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial edged up 0.1 percent, whereas Sumitomo Mitsui Financial dipped by 0.4 percent.
Major exporters like Canon and Sony edged up between 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric gained nearly 2 percent each.
Among other significant gainers, Toho soared nearly 9 percent, while Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Hitachi Zosen surged by almost 6 percent each. Hitachi Construction Machinery and Sumitomo Pharma advanced over 5 percent each, and Toray Industries, Komatsu, and Sumitomo Heavy Industries saw gains exceeding 4 percent each. Taisei, Tokai Carbon, and Sumitomo Chemical added nearly 4 percent each, while Kubota was up more than 3 percent. JTEKT, Daiwa Securities, and Nomura Holdings advanced by almost 3 percent each.
Conversely, Lasertec and Disco declined by nearly 3 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 158 yen range on Wednesday.
Elsewhere in Asia, markets in New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia saw gains ranging from 0.1 to 0.6 percent. On the downside, markets in China, South Korea, and Taiwan fell between 0.2 to 0.5 percent each.
On Wall Street, stocks continued their upward trend on Tuesday, building on gains from the previous two sessions. The Dow led the charge, skyrocketing to a new record closing high.
The Dow rose by 742.76 points or 1.9 percent to 40,954.48, the S&P 500 climbed by 35.98 points or 0.6 percent to a new record closing high of 5,667.20 and the Nasdaq increased by 36.77 points or 0.2 percent to 18,509.34.The major European markets experienced declines today, with the French CAC 40 Index dropping by 0.7 percent, the German DAX Index decreasing by 0.4 percent, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slipping by 0.2 percent.
Crude oil prices continued their downturn for the third consecutive session on Tuesday due to ongoing concerns about demand prospects and a marginally stronger dollar. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for August fell by $1.15, or 1.4 percent, settling at $80.76 per barrel.
