Asian Shares Mostly Higher As Investors Await US CPI Data

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks advanced on Thursday as investors awaited U.S. CPI data, due out later in the day for additional clues on how soon the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this year.

According to the CME FedWatch tool, markets currently price in a 67 percent chance of a rate cut in March. Overall, traders anticipate 140 basis points of easing this year.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams said on Wednesday that inflation is easing but the central bank still has some distance to go on getting inflation back to the 2 percent target.

U.S. bank earnings also remained on investors' radar, with JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo all due to report their financial results on Friday.

The dollar drifted lower in Asian trade, helping gold prices push higher. Oil prices advanced as tensions in the Middle East persisted.

Bitcoin traded just below a two-year high at $46,400 as the U.S. securities regulator approved the first U.S.-listed ETFs to track the cryptocurrency.

Chinese shares rebounded from near 5-year lows, with the Shanghai Composite index closing 0.31 percent higher at 2,886.65 ahead of trade and inflation figures, due this Friday.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rallied 1.27 percent to 16,302.04 on expectations of policy easing by China's central bank.

Japanese markets extended their record-breaking rally as a weaker yen on dovish BOJ bets buoyed exporters.

The Nikkei average jumped 1.77 percent to 35,049.86, breaching the 35,000 mark for the first time since February 1990. The broader Topix index settled 1.57 percent higher at 2,482.87.

Seoul stocks finished marginally lower as the Bank of Korea modified its hawkish policy stance but signaled that rates will likely remain higher for longer. The Kospi average ended down 1.71 points at 2,540.27.

Australian markets ended higher after the release of upbeat trade data for November. Banks and technology stocks rallied as softer CPI data released on Wednesday took chances of an RBA rate hike off the table.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose half a percent to 7,506 while the broader All Ordinaries index gained 0.44 percent to finish at 7,736.80.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index edged up 0.29 percent to 11,803.02.

U.S. stocks and bond yields inched up overnight ahead of key inflation readings and bank earnings.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.8 percent to close higher for the fourth straight session while the Dow rose half a percent and the S&P 500 added 0.6 percent.