BEIJING - Stock prices in Tokyo and Sydney followed Wall Street higher Wednesday while China, South Korea and Southeast Asian markets closed for the Lunar New Year.
The NikkeiNikkei 225 NIK rose 1.6% in Tokyo and Sydney's S&P ASX 200 XJO added 1.2%. The Benchmark indexes in Indonesia JAKIDX and New Zealand NZ 50 GR also gained.
New Zealand reported a record low unemployment rate of 3.2% on Wednesday. Finance Minister Grant Robertson said that it was an extremely positive result and that businesses were continuing to hire people despite the pandemic setbacks.
Political opponents claimed that the real rate was about double the headline figure, which they said was skewed because it didn't count people who weren't actively seeking work. The figures for Statistics New Zealand were seasonally adjusted for the quarter ending December and was the lowest since current record-keeping began in 1986.
Also: RBA governor: Central bank will do what is necessary to maintain low, stable inflation.
Wall Street's S&P 500 index gained 0.7% on Tuesday, boosted by gains for energy and tech stocks in a late burst of buying.
The U.S. stocks are coming off their worst month since the pandemic began nearly two years ago.
The investors are trying to figure out how the economy and corporate profits will be affected by upcoming Federal Reserve hikes, which are intended to cool inflation that has surged to a four-decade high.
The S&P 500 SPX rose to 4,546 on Tuesday. It is 5.2% less than the Jan. 3 all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, was down 0.8% to 35,405. The Nasdaq Composite COMP added 0.7% to 14,346.
In mid-December plans to wind down bond purchases and other stimulus that is boosting prices would be accelerated to cool inflation, according to Fed officials.
Consumers have kept spending despite price rises, but forecasters say retail purchases could weaken and crimp economic growth.
The Fed will hike rates at least four times this year, starting in March, according to investors.
The Labor Department reports U.S. employment for January.
In electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the benchmark U.S. crude CLH 22, gained 13 cents to $88.33 per barrel. The contract went up 5 cents to $88.20 on Tuesday. Brent crude oil BRNJ 22, the price basis for international oils, increased 18 cents to $89.34 per barrel in London. It fell by 10 cents the previous session to $89.16.
The dollarUSDJPY was up to 114.73 yen from Tuesday's 114.71 yen.