Asian Shares Climb On Eased US Bond Market Concerns

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks rose on Thursday as an emergency buyback of longer-dated debt by the U.S. Treasury helped ease some of the pressure from surging long-term yields.

The U.S. dollar index hovered near three-month lows in Asian trade while Brent crude prices climbed above $93 a barrel due to heightened uncertainty in the Middle East, with U.S. President Doanld Trump announcing 'economic operation' against Iran and its trading partners.

Gold fell 0.7 percent to $4,491 an ounce after surging more than 4 percent on Wednesday and hitting its highest level since June 2 at $4,527.67 earlier in the day following a surprise liquidity support announcement by the U.S. Treasury.

China's Shanghai Composite index rose 0.24 percent to 3,903.72 after the People's Bank of China left its key lending rates unchanged for a 15th consecutive month and Beijing relaxed restrictions on housing provident fund savings. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index jumped 0.80 percent to 25,698.49.

Japanese markets rose sharply after three days of declines. The Nikkei average surged 1.36 percent to 66,216.79 despite uncertainty stemming from stalled U.S.-Iran peace talks.

The broader Topix index ended up 1.18 percent at 4,059.73. Among the top gainers, Kioxia Holdings soared 6 percent and SoftBank Group advanced 3.1 percent.

Seoul stocks skyrocketed after chipmaker SK Hynix announced a bumper 40 trillion won ($28.3 billion) share repurchase program.

While SK Hynix shares surged 12.7 percent, the Kospi index closed 5.89 percent higher at 6,852.58. Rival Samsung Electronics soared 9.5 percent on speculation it may announce a new shareholder return policy later this month.

Australian markets ended modestly higher and the 10-year government bond yield fell below 5 percent after data showed the country's unemployment rate unexpectedly rose in July, dampening the outlook for further RBA rate increases.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 edged up 0.33 percent to 9,083.80, snapping a six-session losing streak, led by mining and gold stocks.

The big four banks fell between 1.3 percent and 2.7 percent on renewed concerns over a slowing housing market. The broader All Ordinaries index settled 0.47 percent higher at 9,298.50.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index ended a choppy session marginally lower at 13,919.82, snapping a two-day winning streak.

U.S. stocks eked out modest gains overnight as government bond yields eased from recent highs after an announcement by the Treasury Department that it would buy back more longer-term debt, covering maturities of between 10 and 30 years in a bid to keep borrowing costs in check.

Investors also cheered Moderna's successful trial results for an experimental skin cancer therapy and the pausing of new U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods, but markets gave back some ground in afternoon trading after minutes from the Federal Reserve's July meeting showed uneasiness among members regarding inflation.

Many officials saw the scope for higher interest rates if inflation doesn't soon slow. The S&P 500 rose 0.2 percent to snap its three-day losing streak. The narrower Dow and the tech-heavy Nasdaq also gained around 0.2 percent each.