Asian Markets Track Wall Street Higher

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Monday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, as traders remain optimistic the US Fed will cut interest rate by another 50 bps by year-end on easing trade tensions between the U.S. and China and cooler-than-expected US consumer price inflation data. They now look ahead to the Fed's monetary policy announcement later in the week. Asian markets closed mostly higher on Friday.

"Consumer inflation came in cooler in September, reinforcing expectations that the Fed will cut rates again at next week's policy meeting," said Nationwide Chief Economist Kathy Bostjancic.

She added, "We remain of the view that the Fed will cut the fed fund rate by another 50bps by year-end as the weakening in the labor market outweighs concerns about moderately higher inflation stemming mostly from the tariffs."

The Australian stock market is modestly higher on Monday, reversing the losses in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is moving a tad above the 9,050.00 level, with gains in mining, financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 34.60 points or 0.38 percent to 9,053.60, after touching a high of 9,083.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 33.90 points or 0.36 percent to 9,351.10. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is edging down 0.2 percent. Fortescue and Rio Tinto are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while Mineral Resources are gaining more than 2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly weak. Beach energy is losing almost 1 percent, while Woodside Energy and Origin Energy are edging down 0.3 to 0.5 percent each. Santos is edging up 0.2 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is adding almost 2 percent, Zip is advancing almost 4 percent and Appen is gaining more than 3 percent, while WiseTech Global and Xero are up almost 1 percent each.

Gold miners are mixed. Evolution Mining is gaining 1.5 percent, while Northern Star Resources and Resolute Mining are gaining more than 2 percent each. Newmont is tumbling almost 3 percent and Genesis Minerals is losing 1.5 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are gaining almost 1 percent each, while ANZ Banking is edging up 0.4 percent and National Australia Bank is adding more than almost 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Nuix are tumbling almost 15 percent after reporting that chief executive Jonathan Rubinsztein would step down at the end of the month.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.653 on Monday.

The Japanese stock market is trading sharply higher on Monday, extending the gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 surging to an all-time high above the 50,330 level, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights, financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 50,337.36, up 1,037.71 points or 2.10 percent, after touching an all-time high of 50,491.23 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 1 percent and Toyota is adding almost 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is advancing 4.5 percent, Tokyo Electron is gaining almost 1 percent and Screen Holdings is adding more than 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is advancing 1.5 percent.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Sony is gaining more than 1 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is adding more than 2 percent and Canon advancing almost 2 percent, while Panasonic is edging down 0.3 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Kawasaki Heavy Industries is surging almost 7 percent, Hoya is gaining more than 5 percent and Nidec is adding more than 4 percent, while Nitto Denko, Hitachi Construction Machinery and Taiyo Yuden are advancing almost 4 percent each. Kanadevia, Ebara, Taiheiyo Cement, Komatsu, SHIFT, Hitachi, Mitsui Kinzoku and Fukuoka Financial are up more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 152 yen-range on Monday.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea and Taiwan are up 2.3 and 1.9 percent, respectively. China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are higher by between 0.1 and 0.9 percent each. New Zealand is closed for Labor Day.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher during trading on Friday, extending the upward move seen over the course of the previous session. With the continued advance, the major averages all reached new record closing highs.

The major averages pulled back off their best levels going into the end the day but still posted strong gains. The Dow jumped 472.51 points or 1.0 percent to 47,207.12, the Nasdaq surged 263.07 points or 1.2 percent to 23,204.87 and the S&P 500 climbed 53.25 points or 0.8 percent to 6,791.69.

The major European markets all also moved to the upside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.7 percent and the German DAX Index inched up by 0.1 percent, although the French CAC 40 Index closed just below the unchanged line.

Crude oil prices dipped on Friday on profit taking following large gains a day earlier. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery slipped $0.17 or 0.3 percent to $61.62 per barrel; for the week, crude surged 7.8 percent.