Asian mkts mostly rise amid US rate cut hopes

Growing hopes that the US Federal Reserve and other central banks are close to cutting interest rates helped push Asian stocks higher on Friday, report agencies.
Hong Kong led Asia-Pacific stocks higher as markets tracked Wall Street gains, with renewed hopes for rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve bolstering market sentiment.
The Hang Seng index hit its highest level in 10 months, up 2.32 per cent after Bloomberg reported regulators were considering a proposal to exempt individual investors from paying taxes on dividends earned from Hong Kong stocks bought via Stock Connect.
Mainland China's CSI 300 marginally rose to hit its highest level since October 2023, ending at 3,666.27.
Meanwhile, Japan's overall household spending in March fell 1.2 per cent year on year, less than the 2.4 per cent expected by a Reuters poll of economists. However, on a month-on-month basis, household spending rose 1.2 per cent, compared with estimates of a 0.3 per cent drop.
Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.41 per cent to end at 38,229.11, while the broad-based Topix gained 0.54 per cent to close at 2,728.21.
South Korea's Kospi closed 0.57 per cent higher at 2,727.63, but the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.69 per cent, ending at 864.16.
The Australian S&P/ASX 200 ended up 0.35 per cent at 7,749.
Overnight in the US, all three major indexes climbed as fresh weekly jobless claims data came in at the highest level since August, raising expectations that central bankers might cut interest rates at some point this year.
The 30-stock Dow jumped 0.85 per cent to notch its longest win streak since a nine-day run in December. The S&P 500 added 0.51 per cent, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.27 per cent.