Asian Markets Mostly Higher

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Friday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with support coming from technology and financial stocks. Traders also remain cautious and concerned about the outlook for interest rates, even as they digest hawkish comments from US Fed Chair Jerome Powell that signaled aggressive rate hikes in the coming months. Asian markets ended mostly higher on Thursday.

The Fed chief's tone was similar to the speech he delivered at last month's Jackson Hole economic symposium, which helped trigger the recent sell-off on Wall Street. Powell's comments are seen as reinforcing expectations that the Fed will raise interest rates by another 75 basis points at its next meeting later this month.

The Australian stock market is modestly higher on Friday, extending the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying below the 6,900 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains across most sectors, led by technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 17.90 points or 0.26 percent to 6,866.60, after touching a high of 6,882.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 22.20 points or 0.31 percent to 7,107.50. Australian markets ended sharply higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is gaining more than 1 percent, Rio Tinto is adding almost 1 percent and Fortescue Metals is advancing more than 3 percent, while OZ Minerals is edging down 0.4 percent. Mineral Resources is soaring almost 11 percent on reports of a potential demerger of its lithium operations amid recent restructuring to maximise value for shareholders.

Oil stocks are mostly weak. Origin Energy and Beach energy are edging down 0.3 to 0.5 percent each, while Santos is losing almost 1 percent. Woodside Energy is edging up 0.1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 4 percent, Appen is adding more than 2 percent, Xero is up almost 1 percent and WiseTech Global is advancing more than 3 percent, while Zip is losing almost 3 percent. Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank, Westpac and ANZ Banking are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank is edging up 0.2 percent.

Gold miners are strong. Newcrest Mining and Northern Star Resources are adding more than 1 percent each, while Resolute Mining is gaining almost 1 percent, Evolution Mining is advancing almost 4 percent and Gold Road Resources is up more than 1 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.682 on Friday.

The Japanese stock market is modestly higher on Friday, extending the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 moving above the 28,100 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight and as traders reacted to the government further easing its COVID-19 border control measures and increasing the cap on tourist entries.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 28,219.70, up 154.42 points or 0.55 percent, after touching a high of 28,286.02 earlier. Japanese stocks closed sharply higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is adding almost 1 percent and Toyota is flat.

In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Screen Holdings is edging up 0.3 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is flat, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging up 0.1 percent.

Among major exporters, Canon is edging up 0.3 percent, while Panasonic and Sony are losing almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is edging down 0.2 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Dowa Holdings is adding almost 3 percent.

Conversely, there are no major losers.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 144 yen-range on Friday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong is surging 2.2 percent, while New Zealand, China, Singapore and Malaysia are higher by between 0.1 and 0.8 percent each. Indonesia is bucking the trend and is down 0.1 percent. South Korea is for Chuseok Festival holiday and Taiwan is closed for Mid-Autumn Festival holiday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw significant volatility during trading on Thursday, with the major averages showing wild swings before eventually the day firmly positive. With the upward move on the day, the major averages extended the recovery rally seen in the previous session.

The major averages continued to recover after ending Tuesday's trading at their lowest closing levels in over a month. The Dow climbed 193.24 points or 0.6 percent to 31,774.52, the Nasdaq rose 70.23 points or 0.6 percent to 11,862.13 and the S&P 500 advanced 26.31 points or 0.7 percent to 4,006.18.

Meanwhile, the major European markets also finished the day mixed. While the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index both climbed by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil futures settled higher Thursday following Russia's threat to halt oil and gas exports to some buyers. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by $1.60 or 2 percent at $83.54 a barrel.