Asian stocks track Wall Street rally, eyes on Fed

By FXStreet FXStreet (Mumbai) – The stocks on the Asian bourses rebounded sharply higher, mirroring heavy gains booked on the US stocks overnight amid the recovery in oil prices and short-covering rally ahead of the Fed decision. The US central bank is likely to hike rates by 0.25bps for the first time in almost a decade later today.

Fed lift-off in focus

With the rate-hike being fully priced-in by markets, renewed optimism restored investors’ confidence, thereby aiding the solid recovery in the Japanese stocks. Moreover, exporters’ stocks benefited from a weaker yen while rallying financial stocks also boosted the index. USD/JPY now trades modestly flat at 121.71 while the Japanese benchmark index, the Nikkei bounces 2% to 18,917.

Among other Asian indices, the Australia’s S&P/ASX rockets 1.93% to 5,004, with the resource and mining stocks cheering the technical correction in oil prices. While sold gains in the heavily-weighted banking stocks also lifted the index higher.

The Chinese indices failed to benefit from the upbeat tone seen in its Asian counterparts and trading largely muted, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite (SSEC) almost unchanged around 3,510. While Hong Kong’s, the Hang Seng rallies 1.88% to 21,677.
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Source:: FX Street