Asia-Pacific markets advanced on Wednesday, tracking a technology-led rally on Wall Street overnight as investor concerns about artificial intelligence-driven disruption across select industries eased.
By 11:55 am AEDT (12:55 am GMT), Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.8%, hovering just below fresh record highs.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 1%, while South Korea’s KOSPI 200 added 0.8% to trade at a record peak.
In Australia, fresh data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed annual inflation holding steady at 3.8% in January, slightly above market expectations of 3.7%.
As noted in the media release, housing was the largest contributor to annual price growth, rising 6.8%, followed by food and non-alcoholic beverages, up 3.1%, and recreation and culture, which increased 3.7%.
Analysts from Bendigo Bank commented: "A range of factors suggest this new tightening cycle will likely be persistent and drawn-out including the resilience of global trade in the face of tariffs and tight domestic labour and housing markets, although we currently only forecast one more hike this calendar year."
"The full quarterly inflation data on April 29 will be the key data point for the May RBA decision, but we will need to see an improvement in underlying inflation to avoid another hike in May."
The regional gains followed a solid session in the United States overnight. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 each rose 0.8%, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1%, supported by a rebound in semiconductor and software stocks.
Among commodities, Brent crude slipped 0.9% to settle at US$71.11 per barrel, while spot gold edged 0.1% lower to US$5,143.93 per ounce.
In mainland China, the SSE Composite Index rose 0.9% to 4,117.4, and the CSI 300 gained 1% to 4,707.5.
Elsewhere in the region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.8% to 26,590.3, while India’s BSE Sensex declined 1.3% to 82,225.9.
European markets finished largely steady. The UK’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.04% to 10,680.6, Germany’s DAX eased 0.02% to 24,986.3, and France’s CAC 40 added 0.3% to close at 8,519.2.
