BEIJING, March 3 (BNA): Asian stock markets followed Wall Street higher on Friday after a Federal Reserve official raised hopes that the US central bank may not step up its fight against inflation as much as feared.
Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney advanced. Oil prices fell. Wall Street rose Wednesday for the first time in three days after Atlanta Fed President Rafael Bostick expressed support for raising the federal lending rate to a range of 5% to 5.25% – lower than many investors expect. .
Bostick said the Fed may be able to put a hold on additional interest rate increases by the middle of the year, sooner than some expect, according to the Associated Press.
Anderson Alves of ActivTrades said in a report: The shares rallied after those “cautious comments”.
In energy markets, US crude lost 27 cents to $77.89 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The contract rose 47 cents on Thursday to $78.16. Brent crude, the price basis for international oil trade, fell 28 cents to $84.47 a barrel in London. It rose 44 cents in the previous session to $84.75.
The dollar fell to 136.59 yen from 136.76 yen on Thursday. The euro rose to $1.0608 from $1.0590.
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