Asian stock markets rise on Thursday, led by Wall Street where stocks surged at the close boosted by the Federal Reserve's announcement - which traders viewed as dovish
regarding the outlook for interest rates.
The Japanese market shrugged off the cues from Wall Street and stayed in negative territory.
The US central bank said a rate hike in April is unlikely and although Fed Chair Janet Yellen said a June rate hike cannot be ruled out, a slight downgrade in the economic outlook means that tightening may be pushed out until the second half of the year. On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher on Wednesday as traders reacted positively to the monetary policy announcement.
Following the positive lead overnight from Wall Street, the Australian market opened higher.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index added 77.30 points or 1.32% to 5,919.60 in the late morning trade, off a high of 5,932.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is gaining 74.60 points or 1.28% to 5,882.60.
Among the miners, BHP Billiton (BHP) is advancing more than 1%, Rio Tinto (RIO) is adding almost 1% and Fortescue Metals is gaining almost 3%.
ANZ Banking, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac (WBK) and National Australia Bank are higher in a range of 1.2 to 1.7%.
The Aussie dollar climbed against the US dollar on Thursday, after the US Federal Reserve warned of weaker US economic growth and pulled the US dollar lower. In early-morning trades, the local unit is trading at USD0.7786, up from Wednesday's close of USD0.7606.
The Japanese market bucked the trend and stayed in negative territory due to profit-taking from the market's recent gains, while a stronger yen weighed on exporter stocks.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei index is down 169.19 points or 0.87% to 19,375.29, off a low of 19,312.70 earlier. On Wednesday, Japanese shares climbed to a fresh 15-year high.
Among tech stocks, Advantest is lower by 1.3%, Casio Computer is down 0.4%, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is lower by 1.2% and Hitachi is declining 0.3%. Fanuc is currently gaining almost 1%.
Sharp Corp. is rising more than 2% after the Nikkei business daily reported that the company has decided to cut more than 10% of its workforce in Japan in the year starting April. The company might also cut 10% of its workforce outside Japan.
As for the losers, Nippon Suisan Kaisha is declining 2.9%, Fuji Electric is down 2.6% and Taiheiyo Cement is losing 1.6%.
Japan will see January data for its all industry activity index, plus February figures for department store sales. In the currency market, the US dollar is trading in the lower 120 yen-range on Thursday, down from the mid 121 yen-range on Wednesday.
The major European markets ended Wednesday mixed. While the German DAX Index fell by 0.5%, the UK's FTSE 100 Index surged up by 1.6% and the French CAC 40 Index inched up by 0.1%.
