Asian Shares Rise Ahead Of Fed Decision

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks rose broadly on Wednesday, with benchmark indexes in Japan and South Korea reaching new record highs, ahead of a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut expected later in the day.

Investor attention was also focused on upcoming earnings from U.S, mega tech companies and Thursday's Trump-Xi meeting.

"I think we're going to have a great meeting with President Xi of China, and a lot of problems are going to be solved," U.S. President Trump said en route to South Korea where he is due to meet with his counterpart Xi.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the leaders may discuss a proposed trade framework that could see Washington reduce tariffs on Chinese goods in exchange for Beijing's commitment to curb exports of fentanyl precursor chemicals.

China's Shanghai Composite index rose 0.70 percent to 4,016.33, ending at its strongest since July 2015 led by gains in energy and non-ferrous metal shares. Hong Kong markets were closed for a public holiday.

Japanese markets hit new record highs on optimism over artificial intelligence boom at home and abroad. Sentiment was also underpinned after a new U.S.-Japan rare earths agreement was signed during Trump's visit to Tokyo.

The Nikkei average closed up 2.17 percent at 51,307.65, surging past the key 51,000 level for the first time. The broader Topix index slipped 0.23 percent, to 3,278.24 as exporters fell amid a rebound in the yen ahead of the Bank of Japan's policy decision this week.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged Japan's government to give the Bank of Japan (BOJ) room to raise interest rates in order to anchor inflation expectations and avoid excess exchange rate volatility.

Tech stocks topped the gainers list after Nvidia said it would build seven new AI supercomputers for the U.S. Department of Energy.

Advantest soared 22.1 percent, Tokyo Electron gained 3.3 percent and SoftBank Group added 3.9 percent.

Seoul stocks reached a new peak on hopes for the Seoul-Washington summit and a potential supply deal with Nvidia.

The Kospi average surged 1.76 percent to 4,081.15. Nvidia supplier SK Hynix soared 7.1 percent after it announced record quarterly earnings for Q3 2025, boosted by a strong demand for its high bandwidth memory used in generative AI chipsets.

Australian markets ended sharply lower after data showed consumer prices in the country rose 3.2 percent in the third quarter, the strongest gain in more than a year.

Core inflation also accelerated beyond expectations, complicating the Reserve Bank's path to further policy easing.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.96 percent to 8,926.20, closing at a two-week low dragged down by banks and real estate stocks.

The broader All Ordinaries index settled 0.83 percent lower at 9,218.80. Woolworths Group shares rallied 2.4 percent. The supermarket chain beat estimates for first-quarter sales, driven by growth in WooliesX and B2B sectors.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index finished marginally higher at 13,409.21, giving up early gains after hitting an over two-week high.

The dollar rose from a one-week low versus major peers in Asian trading while oil prices were little changed on supply jitters.

Gold jumped more than 1 percent toward $4,000 an ounce after recent losses.

U.S. stocks fluctuated before closing at fresh record highs for a second day in a row overnight due to Fed rate cut expectations and signs of easing U.S.-China trade tensions.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite surged 0.8 percent, boosted by a series of artificial intelligence (AI) deals. The Dow gained 0.3 percent and the S&P 500 added 0.2 percent.