Asian shares climb after Fed hikes as expected; eyes on Europe, Japan
Asian shares advanced and the dollar fell on Thursday after a well-flagged U.S. rate rise delivered no major surprises, although policymakers in Europe and Japan could pose risks for markets with their own interest rate decisions. S&P 500 futures rose 0.2% while Nasdaq futures gained 0.5%, helped by a 6.8% jump in Meta Platforms in after-hours trading.
Facebook's parent company reported a strong rise in advertising revenue, topping Wall Street targets. In Asia, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1.2% amid hopes that U.S. tightening cycle could be over now.
Japan's Nikkei was flat. China's blue chips added 0.6% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 1.5%. On Wednesday, the U.S.
Federal Reserve delivered a quarter-point rate hike and kept the door open for more, as widely expected. During the much-watched press conference, Chair Jerome Powell remained non-committal about the prospects of a hike in the next meeting in September, though analysts said a continued slowing of inflation and weaker economic data may prompt policymakers to pause. «Chair Powell post the FOMC outcome started off sticking to script, but slowly morphed to an acknowledgement that inflation has indeed fallen, the real rate had risen and was indeed in a restrictive state,» said Padhraic Garvey, regional head of research, Americas, at ING.
«As the conference went on he was almost on the verge of a nod towards an eventual rate cutting track down the line,» said Garvey. «Next up is the ECB's Lagarde, who is more prone to deviate. The 25bp hike is not the point.
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