On last day of working week, Asia Equity up to one-month highs, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated the U.S. central bank can be patient on raising interest rates further. At the Economic Club of Washington, Powell reiterated the views of other policymakers that the Fed would be patient about interest rate hikes.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan, edged 0.56% higher, while Japan's benchmark Nikkei advanced 0.69% in early trade.
Wall Street extended its rally into a fifth straight day on Thursday in a whipsaw trading session as investors responded to mixed comments by Powell, while a warning from Macy’s pummeled retail stocks.
Major U.S. stock indexes also quickly recovered from brief losses after Powell said that the Fed’s balance sheet would be “substantially smaller”. “Similarly, Trump also softened his stance on China after sharp falls in stock prices. He has offered an olive branch to China and there’s no reason China would not want to accept it,” he said.
U.S. Treasury debt prices erased early gains after a soft 30-year bond auction and in reaction to Powell’s comments on the Fed “substantially” reducing the size of its balance sheet. The 10-year U.S. Treasuries yield last stood at 2.73%.
Crude prices held near one-month highs, but a more than week-long in oil rally slowed as optimism surrounding U.S.-China trade talks faded a little. In early Asian trade, West Texas Intermediate crude futures slipped 0.55% to $52.30 per barrel.
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