SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific rose in Thursday trade following the U.S. Federal Reserve’s announcement that it will start tapering the pace of its bond purchases later in November.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan gained 0.78% while the Topix index advanced 0.98%. South Korea’s Kospi also climbed 0.46%.
In mainland China, the Shanghai composite edged 0.64% higher while the Shenzhen component jumped 1.204%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 0.27%.
Australian stocks rose in trade as the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.38%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 0.36%.
Markets in Singapore, Malaysia and India were closed on Thursday for a holiday.
Fed announces tapering plans
The Fed announced Wednesday it will begin reducing the pace of monthly bond purchases later this month. The move was in line with market expectations following a series of earlier signals from the U.S. central bank that it would begin winding down a program that accelerated in March 2020 as a response to the Covid pandemic.
The major indexes on Wall Street climbed to new records on Wednesday following the Fed announcement, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 104.95 points to 36,157.58 while the S&P 500 advanced 0.65% to 4,660.57. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.04% to 15,811.58.
Oil prices decline
Oil prices were lower in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures falling 0.8% to $81.33 per barrel. U.S. crude futures were down 1.09% to $79.98 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 94.002 after touching an earlier low of 93.825.
The Japanese yen traded at 114.19 per dollar, weaker than levels below 113.6 seen against the greenback earlier this week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7452, following its plunge from above $0.752 earlier in the trading week.
