Asian stocks moved higher on Thursday as oil prices eased from this week’s sharp gains, helping support both equities and bonds.
Brent crude traded near $94 a barrel after briefly approaching $97, following comments from US President Donald Trump that he did not expect the renewed bombing campaign against Iran to continue “much longer”.
The pullback in oil helped improve sentiment after renewed fighting between the US and Iran had pushed crude sharply higher earlier in the week and revived concerns over inflation.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.2% to 64,455.83, with SoftBank Group gaining 2.9%, Kioxia up 0.6% and Tokyo Electron advancing 0.8%.
South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1.4% to 6,656.81, supported by gains in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged 0.1% higher, while the Shanghai Composite gained 0.4%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.5%, Taiwan’s Taiex added 0.6% and India’s Sensex advanced 0.3%.
The gains followed a rebound on Wall Street after the sharp sell-off at the start of September, with investors buying back shares that had fallen heavily in recent sessions.
The S&P 500 advanced with almost 350 constituents closing higher. Dell was among the strongest performers, jumping 14% after issuing an upbeat outlook, while investors also looked ahead to results from semiconductor group Broadcom.
Oil nevertheless remains elevated and continues to pose an inflation risk as the US-Iran conflict develops. US government bond yields were little changed after reaching multi-year highs earlier in the week.
The Federal Reserve’s latest assessment of the US economy showed modest growth over the past two months, supported partly by strong data-centre demand, while employment growth slowed during August.
Attention now turns to Friday’s US employment report, which could influence expectations for the Federal Reserve’s next interest-rate decision.
