Asia-Pacific markets opened the week on a firmer footing as renewed expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut supported sentiment following last week’s broad declines driven by an unwinding of the AI trade.
The rebound came after New York Federal Reserve President John Williams signalled on Friday that the central bank may lower rates again this year, saying labour market weakness posed a greater risk to the economy than persistent inflation.
Fed funds futures are now pricing a 69.4% chance of a 25 basis point cut in December, according to the CME Group FedWatch Tool.
By 11:50 am AEDT (12:50 am GMT), Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 1%, while South Korea’s Kospi 200 gained 0.9%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was closed for a public holiday.
Among individual names, BHP rose about 0.4% after confirming it had ceased merger discussions with Anglo American.
Qube Holdings, meanwhile, jumped 18.9% after announcing that Macquarie Asset Management had submitted a non-binding proposal to acquire the logistics group at an enterprise value of A$11.6 billion.
The positive tone followed gains on Wall Street on Friday, where the Dow added 1.1%, the S&P 500 advanced 1% and the Nasdaq climbed 0.9%.
In commodities, Brent crude fell 1.3% to US$62.56 a barrel, touching multi-week lows, while spot gold eased 0.3% to US$4,064.46 per ounce.
Chinese markets extended recent weakness on Friday, with the Shanghai Composite shedding 2.5% to 3,834.9 and the CSI 300 losing 2.4% to 4,453.6.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index retreated 2.4% to 25,220.0, while India’s BSE Sensex slipped 0.5% to 85,231.9.
European markets ended mixed, with London’s FTSE 100 edging up 0.1% to 9,539.7. Germany’s DAX declined 0.8% to 23,091.9, while France’s CAC 40 finished flat at 7,982.7.
