Bangkok, Nov 25: Asian shares were mixed on Tuesday after US stocks rallied on hopes the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates soon.
US futures edged lower and oil prices also declined.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was trading less than 0.1 per cent higher, at 48,644.92, after reopening from a holiday.
In South Korea, the Kospi also traded in a narrow range and was nearly flat at 3,848.00. Taiwan’s Taiex was up 1.4 per cent.
Chinese markets advanced. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng climbed 0.6 per cent to 25,875.36, while the Shanghai Composite index jumped 1.1 per cent to 3,880.22.
E-commerce giant Alibaba, which was due to report its earnings late Tuesday, gained 2.4 per cent.
Australia’s S&P/ASX gave up 0.2 per cent to 8,510.30.
US markets will be closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday. A day later, it’s on to the rush of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
The US stock market rallied on Monday, at the start of a week with shortened trading because of the Thanksgiving holiday.
The S&P 500 climbed 1.5 per cent to 6,705.12 in one of its best days since the summer. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4 per cent to 46,448.27, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 2.7 per cent to 22,872.01.
Stocks got a lift from rising hopes that the Fed will cut its main interest rate again at its next meeting in December, a move that could boost the economy and investment prices.
The market also benefited from strength for stocks caught up in the artificial-intelligence frenzy. Alphabet, which has been getting praise for its newest Gemini AI model, rallied 6.3 per cent and was one of the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500. Nvidia rose 2.1 per cent.
Monday’s gains followed sharp swings in recent weeks, not just day to day but also hour to hour, caused by uncertainty about what the Fed will do with interest rates and whether too much money is pouring into AI and creating a bubble. All the worries are creating the biggest test for investors since an April sell-off, when President Donald Trump shocked the world with his “Liberation Day” tariffs.
Despite all the recent fear, the S&P 500 remains within 2.7 per cent of its record set last month.
Several tests for the market lie ahead this week. One of the biggest will arrive Tuesday when the US government will deliver data on inflation at the wholesale level in September.
Economists expect it to show a 2.6 per cent rise in prices from a year earlier, the same as in August. A higher-than-expected reading could deter the Fed from cutting its main interest rate in December for a third time this year, because lower rates can worsen inflation. Some Fed officials have already argued against a December cut in part because inflation has stubbornly remained above their 2 per cent target.
Traders are nevertheless betting on a nearly 85 per cent probability that the Fed will cut rates next month, up from 71 per cent on Friday and from less than a coin flip’s chance seen a week ago, according to data from CME Group.
In other dealings early Tuesday, US benchmark crude oil lost 28 cents to USD 58.56 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, shed 33 cents to USD 62.39 per barrel.
The dollar fell to 156.81 Japanese yen from 156.91 yen. The euro slipped to USD 1.1517 from USD 1.1521.
Bitcoin fell 1.1 per cent to USD 88,200. It was near USD 125,000 last month.(AP)
