Asia follows Wall St up on hopes Fed will ease off rate hikes

BEIJING, June 2 (BNA): Asian stock markets followed Wall Street higher Friday ahead of an update on the US jobs market after Federal Reserve officials pushed back another rate hike and lawmakers gave final approval to a deal to avert a government. Debt default.

Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul advanced. Oil prices rose. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 rose 1% on Thursday after data showed weak manufacturing and retail activity.

That has added to hopes that the Fed will decide that upward pressure on rates is waning and further rate hikes can be delayed or scaled back, the AP reports.

Late Thursday, the Senate gave final approval to an agreement to increase the amount the government can borrow in exchange for spending cuts.

The widely expected move removed the risk of default that roiled the market last week before President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy negotiated a compromise.

The Shanghai Composite rose 0.7% to 3226.58 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 0.8% to 31384.93. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 3.4% to 18,833.15.

The Kospi in Seoul rose 0.9% to 2591.48, and the S&P ASX 200 in Sydney rose 0.3% at 7130.20.

New Zealand fell back while Bangkok advanced. Markets in Singapore and Indonesia were closed for holidays.

In the energy market, the price of US crude rose 38 cents to $70.48 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $2.01 on Thursday to $70.10. Brent crude, the price basis for international oil trade, rose 42 cents to $74.70 a barrel in London. It gained $1.68 in the previous session to reach $74.28.

The dollar fell to 138.74 yen from 138.86 yen on Thursday. The euro rose to $1.0765 from $1.0762.

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