Greens dominate Asian stock markets
Asian markets are tracking Wall Street‘s gains as US interest rate cut hopes revive; Hong Kong shares are at a 9-month high.
Asia-Pacific Stocks tracked Wall Street’s gains on Friday as hopes of another rate cut by the US Federal Reserve boosted market sentiment.
Japan’s overall household spending fell 1.2 percent year-on-year in March; this was below the 2.4 percent a survey of economists had expected. However, on a monthly basis, household expenditures increased by 1.2 percent, compared to forecasts for a 0.3 percent decline.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 0.66 percent, while the broad-based Topix rose 0.74 percent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 1.4 percent to a nine-month high, while China’s CSI 300 index was trading near the flat line.
While South Korea’s Kospi index gained 0.73 percent, the small index Kosdaq lost 0.58 percent.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 also increased by 0.33 percent.