Hong
Kong
Kanchisa
Thitisukthanapong
|
Moment
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Images
Asia-Pacific
stocks
tracked
Wall
Street
gains
on
Friday
as
renewed
rate
cut
hopes
by
the
U.S.
Federal
Reserve
bolstered
market
sentiment.
Japan’s
overall
household
spending
in
March
fell
1.2%
year
on
year,
less
than
the
2.4%
expected
by
a
Reuters
poll
of
economists.
However,
on
a
month-on-month
basis,
household
spending
rose
1.2%,
compared
with
estimates
of
a
0.3%
drop.
Japan’s
Nikkei
225
was
up
0.66%,
while
the
broad-based
Topix
was
0.74%
higher.
Hong
Kong’s
Hang
Seng
index
hit
its
highest
level
in
nine
months,
up
1.4%,
while
mainland
China’s
CSI
300
was
trading
near
the
flatline.
South
Korea’s
Kospi
climbed
0.73%,
but
the
small
cap
Kosdaq
slipped
0.58%.
The
Australian
S&P/ASX
200
also
inched
up
0.33%.
Overnight
in
the
U.S.,
all
three
major
indexes
climbed
as
fresh
weekly
jobless
claims
data
came
in
at
the
highest
level
since
August,
raising
expectations
that
central
bankers
might
cut
interest
rates
at
some
point
this
year.
The
30-stock
Dow jumped
0.85%
to
notch
its
longest
win
streak
since
a
nine-day
run
in
December.
The
S&P
500
added
0.51%,
while
the
Nasdaq
Composite
gained
0.27%.
—
CNBC’s
Brian
Evans
and
Jesse
Pound
contributed
to
this
report.
