SINGAPORE – Asia-Pacific stocks rose Thursday morning, with South Korean stocks leading the gains.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan rose 0.76% at the start of the session while the Topix index climbed 0.23%. South Korean Kospi jumped 1.13%.
Elsewhere, stocks in Australia were up as well, with the S & P / ASX 200 up 0.5%.
The MSCI’s largest Asia-Pacific stock index outside of Japan traded up 0.29%.
Mainland Chinese markets remain closed for the holidays on Thursday.
Overnight in the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 102.32 points to 34,416.99 while the S&P 500 gained 0.41% to 4,363.55. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.47% to 14,501.91.
These gains on Wall Street are due to growing optimism about a deal on the US debt ceiling. Global markets have had a choppy start to October so far amid fears of rising rates and inflation.
The benchmark yield on 10-year US Treasuries recently crossed 1.5% and stayed well above that level, last standing at 1.5276%.
Currencies and oil
The Japanese yen was trading at 111.33 per dollar, stronger than the levels above 111.6 seen yesterday. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7278 after yesterday’s rebound below $ 0.724.
Oil prices were down on the morning of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures down 0.12% to $ 80.98 a barrel. US crude futures fell 0.45% to $ 77.08 a barrel.
