Hong Kong's benchmark jumped more than 6% and Tokyo gained more than 3%. Shanghai, Seoul and Sydney also advanced.Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index rose 2.2% on Wednesday after the Fed raised its short-term lending rate by 0.25 percentage points. The widely anticipated change was less than the 0.5 percentage point hike advocated by some officials.
Chinese leaders appeared to be trying to rebuild private sector confidence after a drumbeat of anti-monopoly, data-security and anti-debt crackdowns caused stock prices to plunge.The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo surged 3.5% to 26,508.77 and the Shanghai Composite Index advanced 2.6% to 3,252.97.India's Sensex opened up 1.8% at 57,811.37. New Zealand and Southeast Asian markets also gained.
That is fuelling anxiety among investors about economic growth, which also faces threats from Russia's war on Ukraine, coronavirus outbreaks in China, soaring oil prices and uncertain global consumer demand.Fed chairman Jerome Powell said that before the Russian invasion of Ukraine he expected inflation to stabilize in the first quarter of this year. He said he now believes inflation will come down in the second half.