Asia soars: shares surge on Wall Street highs and yen weakness

Asian shares made gains on Thursday, following Wall Street’s ascent to a near-record high. Tokyo’s benchmark approached its highest level since 1990, propelled by a New Year rally. The yen’s depreciation against the U.S. dollar buoyed export-focused stocks, lifting the Nikkei 225 by 1.8% to 35,053.67 in afternoon trading.

Major Japanese companies saw positive stock movements, with Toyota Motor Corp. rising over 3%, Honda Motor Co. adding 2.5%, Sony Group Corp. increasing by 3.4%, and Hitachi gaining 4%. Analysts cautioned that profit-taking might temper further advances.

In other markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 1.3% to 16,302.04, while the Shanghai Composite edged up 0.3% to 2,886.65. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.5% to 7,506.00, and South Korea’s Kospi dipped slightly to 2,540.27.

The South Korean central bank maintained its monetary policy unchanged at a policy meeting, citing inflation persisting above the 3% range. Robert Carnell, regional head of research Asia-Pacific at ING, noted that growth conditions were holding up well, particularly with the recovery in semiconductor exports.

On Wall Street, Wednesday saw a 0.6% increase in the S&P 500 to 4,783.45, just 0.3% below its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5% to 37,695.73, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.8% to 14,969.65.

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The upcoming inflation report on Thursday is closely watched, with economists expecting a 3.2% year-on-year increase in prices paid by U.S. consumers for December, slightly up from November’s 3.1%. The Federal Reserve’s potential interest rate cuts are under scrutiny, given the cooling of price increases since the summer of 2022.

Boeing’s stock stabilized after earlier declines due to an in-flight incident with one of its planes, rising 0.9%. Big companies in the S&P 500 are set to report Q4 2023 results soon, with Delta Air Lines, JPMorgan Chase, and UnitedHealth Group among the highlights.

Oil-and-gas stocks faced losses on Wall Street, with Exxon Mobil down 1% and Devon dropping 1.9%. U.S. crude added 50 cents to $71.87 a barrel, while Brent crude rose 58 cents to $77.38 a barrel.

In the cryptocurrency market, bitcoin hovered around $46,000 after the Securities and Exchange Commission announced its approval of exchange-traded funds holding actual bitcoins, rather than just futures contracts. The U.S. dollar slipped against the Japanese yen and the euro, trading at 145.34 yen and $1.0976, respectively.