Asia-Pacific markets started the week mostly in the black after New York Federal Reserve President John Williams signaled that a third interest rate cut was possible this year.
On Friday, Williams suggested the Fed may cut its key interest rate because labor market weakness poses a greater economic threat than higher inflation.
The Fed has only one meeting for 2025, which will take place on December 9 and 10 in the US. The target rate is currently at 3.75% to 4.00%.
Federal funds contracts factor in about a 70% chance of a quarter-percentage-point cut, according to CME’s FedWatch tool, up from about 44% in the week to Nov. 14, SEEbiz reports.
Last week, Asian markets fell across the board as traders fled tech stocks and heavyweights like Softbank, Samsung Electronics and Baidu fell.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.98%, boosted by technology and healthcare stocks, while China’s CSI 300 was 0.25% below stagnation.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.25%, paring some of its gains, while small firm Kosdaq reversed gains and fell slightly. Kospi heavyweight Samsung Electronics rose 2.8%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.19% to 8,525.1, recovering from Friday’s 1.59% loss.
Shares in logistics group Qube rose almost 20% on Monday after Macquarie Asset Management made an A$11.6 billion ($7.49 billion) takeover bid for the firm.
Mining giant BHP rose about 0.62% after the firm announced it was no longer considering a merger with British mining giant Anglo American.
Japanese markets were closed for a public holiday.
