May 18, 2023 / 08:33 AM IST
Asian stocks follow Wall Street higher amid debt ceiling optimism
Asia-Pacific share indexes rallied on Thursday, following Wall Street’s lead, and the dollar held just below a two-month high versus the yen amid signs the United States might be close to a deal to raise the debt ceiling and avert a disastrous default.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden and top U.S. congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy underscored their determination to reach an agreement soon, pledging to negotiate directly on a deal amid estimates the Treasury could run out of money by the start of June.
Japan’s Nikkei continued to outperform the region, surging to a fresh 20-month peak of 30,667.13, before last trading 1.2 percenthigher at around 30,450. Any advance above 30,795.78 would take it to the highest since 1990, when Japan’s bubble economy had still to burst.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.93 percent. Mainland blue chips rose 0.37 percent.
Australia’s stock benchmark gained 0.59 percent, and received an additional tailwind from domestic data showing an unexpected fall in employment in April, taking some pressure off the Reserve Bank for further tightening.
