An Asia-wide gauge of equities was on course for its best day in about three weeks, helped by an advance in Hong Kong shares. Stocks in mainland China whipsawed as they resumed trading after a three-day break, while Australian and South Korean shares trimmed early declines.
Contracts for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 were moderately higher after a drop on Wednesday, when the turmoil in US regional banks added to market volatility.
The moves followed a 25 basis-points increase from the Fed and comments from Chair Jerome Powell that opened the door for a pause in June but played down the prospect of rate cuts later in the year – a scenario firmly reflected in market pricing.
Australian bonds rose following gains in US Treasuries, although trading for the latter was closed in Asia due to a holiday in Japan. The yen extended a rally against most of its Group-of-10 peers, while the Bloomberg dollar index fell for a third day.
Oil retraced some of the losses it made earlier this week when concerns over global growth weighed on the commodity. SOURCE: BLOOMBERG
