Shares were mostly higher in Asia on Thursday after a listless day of trading on Wall Street as the recent bout of nerves over Federal Reserve policy fades.
Markets advanced in Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong while Sydney and Shanghai declined.
Markets have calmed notably since the Federal Reserve surprised investors last week by saying it could start raising short-term interest rates by late 2023, earlier than expected.
The super-low rates the Fed engineered to carry the economy through the pandemic have propped up prices across markets, and any change would be a big deal. That’s why the Fed’s announcement triggered an immediate drop for stocks and rise in Treasury yields.
Now, investors are focusing more on how it may be still be years before the first rate hike hits, particularly as Fed officials say they still see the high inflation sweeping the economy as only a temporary problem.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index edged less than 0.1% higher to 28,888.52 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng also was less than 0.1% higher. In Seoul, the Kospi added 0.3% to 3,286.00.
