Publications
Partners
Hong Kong - Asian markets were mixed on Thursday after Wall Street advanced in response to an upbeat outlook for the US economy by the Federal Reserve, while Chinese trade growth picked up pace in June.
An indication from the Fed that it will keep interest rates at record lows well into next year kept downward pressure on the dollar.
Tokyo fell 0.24% by lunch, Hong Kong climbed 0.28%, Sydney was flat, Seoul gained 0.10% and Shanghai added 0.20%.
Jakarta surged more than 2% at the open on projections that the capital's popular Joko Widodo would win a close presidential election.
US shares provided a positive lead as investors picked up bargains after a two-day losing streak thanks to an upbeat assessment of the US economy by Fed policymakers in the minutes of their June board meeting.
The minutes showed the bank plans to end its five-year-long, economy-boosting bond-buying scheme in October.
"If the economy progresses about as the committee expects... this final reduction would occur following the October meeting," the minutes said.
The timetable was as expected following a slew of strong data out of Washington in recent weeks, the latest being last month's better-than-forecast jobs report.
The bank also said it expects not to hike interest rates for "a considerable time" after the stimulus programme ends, "especially if projected inflation continued to run below the committee's 2 percent longer-run goal", the minutes said.
Adding to the buying sentiment was aluminium giant Alcoa, which kicked off the second-quarter earnings season by reporting it was in the black again after posting a big loss a year ago.
In New York the Dow edged up 0.47%, the S&P 500 rose 0.46% and the Nasdaq advanced 0.63%.
However, expectations that rates will remain low weighed on the dollar. In early Tokyo trade the greenback was at 101.52 yen, compared with 101.64 yen in New York.
The euro bought $1.3645 and ¥138.53 against $1.3642 and ¥138.66 in US trade.
In China the General Administration of Customs said exports rose 7.2% year-on-year in June while imports gained 5.5%.
The figures were up from May although exports were well short of forecasts.
Indonesian shares rallied 2.5% in the opening exchanges as unofficial tallies showed Widodo ahead of Prabowo Subianto in the race to lead Southeast Asia's biggest economy.
Investors have been hoping for victory for the Jakarta chief, the first serious presidential contender without deep roots in the Suharto era, seeing him as a potential reformer and clean leader in a graft-ridden country.
Prabowo, a general in the Suharto era who has been dogged by human rights abuse allegations, is seen as less friendly to overseas investors.
Oil prices were lower. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for August delivery declined 34 cents to $101.95 while Brent crude eased 16c to $108.12.
Gold fetched $1 329.00 an ounce at 02:30 GMT compared with $1 324.87 late on Wednesday.
