Stocks in Asia Pacific traded higher Thursday morning after the U.S. Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.42% in early trade while the Topix index added 0.31%. South Korea’s Kospi also advanced 0.67%.
Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.69%.
Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index traded 0.25% higher.
In a widely expected move, the Fed on Wednesday kept its benchmark overnight lending rate near zero.
“The focus now turns to the September meeting where the expectation is the Fed will provide more forward guidance,” Tapas Strickland, director of economics at National Australia Bank, wrote in a note.
“At some point the Fed may also look to increase the rate of bond purchases to offset any increase in issuance on the back of increased fiscal spending and focus will remain on the prospects of the Fed to adopt yield curve control at some point in the future,” Strickland said.
On the economic data front, Japanese retail sales for June declined 1.2% as compared to a year ago, according to a preliminary report by the country’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. That compared against a median market forecast for a 6.5% year-on-year decline, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, shares of South Korean industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics gained more than 1% after the firm reported a 23% rise in its quarterly operating profit, according to Reuters.
Overnight stateside, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 160.29 points, or 0.6%, to close at 26,539.57. The S&P 500 rose 1.3% to end its trading day at 3,258.44. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.4% to close at 10,542.94.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 93.312 after earlier slipping from levels above 93.6.
The Japanese yen traded at 104.98 per dollar following its strengthening earlier in the trading week from levels above 105.3 against the greenback. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7174 after rising from levels below $0.712 this week.
Oil prices dipped in the morning of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures fractionally lower at $43.72 per barrel. U.S. crude futures were about 0.1% lower at $41.22 per barrel.
Source: CNBC