Stocks in Asia rose overnight as the Israeli government said it had agreed to a truce after achieving its war objectives with Iran.
The Nikkei (^N225) rose 0.4% on the day in Tokyo as a summary of opinions from the BOJ’s latest policy meeting suggested that some policymakers supported maintaining steady rates amid uncertainty of the effects of US tariffs on Japan’s economy.
Some board members observed stronger-than-expected inflation, with one member proposing that the central bank may need to raise rates decisively despite the prevailing economic uncertainty.
Meanwhile the Hang Seng (^HSI) climbed 1.2% in Hong Kong. The Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was 1% up by the end of the session. In South Korea, the Kospi (^KS11) added 0.2% on the day.
Elsewhere, early morning data revealed that Australia’s headline consumer price index inflation (2.1% year-on-year) cooled more than anticipated in May compared to 2.3% expected., This marked its slowest pace in seven months and decreased from the 2.4% recorded in April.
Across the pond on Wall Street, stocks rallied on lower oil prices (and hence lower inflation) which are keeping the prospect of rate cuts in play this year.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) ended 1.1% higher, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) advanced 1.4%, reaching a new record high. The Dow Jones (^DJI) also gained 1.2% by the close.