SINGAPORE — Stocks in Asia-Pacific rose in Friday morning trade following an overnight rebound on Wall Street.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 1.23% in early trade while the Topix index rose 1.02%. South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.54%.
Shares in Australia edged higher, as the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.43%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares traded 0.15% higher.
Powell comments
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged Thursday that fiscal help from Congress and accelerated vaccine distribution has allowed the U.S. to recover faster than expected.
“As we make substantial further progress toward our goals, we’ll gradually roll back the amount of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities we’ve bought,” Powell told NPR’s “Morning Edition” in a live interview. “We will very gradually, over time and with great transparency, when the economy has all but fully recovered, we will be pulling back the support that we provided during emergency times.”
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 199.42 points to close at 32,619.48 while the S&P 500 ended its trading day 0.52% higher at 3,909.52. The Nasdaq Composite also rose 0.12% to close at 12,977.68.
Currencies
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 92.806 following its climb from levels below 92 earlier in the week.
The Japanese yen traded at 109.15 per dollar, having weakened from levels below 108.6 against the greenback seen earlier this week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7593, still lower than levels around $0.774 seen earlier in the week.
— CNBC’s Jeff Cox contributed to this report.
Source: CNBC