Asia-Pacific markets traded higher on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 hitting another record high as sentiment was boosted amid fresh record highs on Wall Street overnight.
By 11:35 am AEDT (12:35 pm GMT), Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.3%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged 1.2% to a fresh record.
South Korean markets remained closed for a public holiday, while mainland Chinese markets are set to reopen today after the Golden Week break.
Among individual companies, SoftBank shares surged 11% after the Japanese conglomerate announced plans to acquire ABB’s robotics division for US$5.375 billion (A$8.18 billion), expanding its global AI ambitions.
The latest data from the Melbourne Institute showed that consumer inflation expectations continued to climb in October.
“The expected inflation rate (30-per-cent trimmed mean measure) rose by 0.1 percentage points in October to 4.8 per cent. Inflation expectations have increased materially in the past two months.
"Expected wage growth also rose this month, although it remains close to its long-term average,” the Institute said.
Overnight in the United States, major benchmarks finished mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average held steady, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both reached new record highs, up 0.6% and 1.1%, respectively.
Commodity markets also saw renewed strength. Brent crude climbed 1.2% to settle at US$66.25 a barrel, while spot gold advanced 1.4% to a fresh record of US$4,041.90 per ounce.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.5% to 26,829.5, and India’s BSE Sensex eased 0.2% to 81,773.7.
Across Europe, markets closed higher on Wednesday, with the FTSE 100 rising 0.7% to a record 9,548.9, Germany’s DAX adding 0.9% to 24,597.1, and France’s CAC 40 climbing 1.1% to finish at 8,060.1.
