FILE PHOTO: Visitors and electronic screens displaying Japan's Nikkei stock quotation board are reflected on window glasses as the share average surged past an all-time record high scaled in December 1989, inside a building in Tokyo, Japan February 22, 2024. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File PhotoSINGAPORE : Asian shares bounced while gold prices and Japan's Nikkei jumped to record highs on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve indicated it would stick with plans for cutting interest rates.
Overnight the Fed left U.S. rates on hold between 5.25 per cent and 5.5 per cent, as expected, and nudged up inflation forecasts. Policymakers' median projection for three 25 basis point rate cuts this year was unchanged from December. U.S. Treasury yields fell slightly in New York trade and were steady in Asia. Two-year yields were last at 4.59 per cent and 10-year yields at 4.26 per cent. The S&P 500 notched a record closing high overnight and U.S. and European futures rose in Asia trade.
The euro traded at a week high of $1.0939 in Asia. The Australian dollar also jumped to a one-week high after a startlingly strong jobs report quashed talk of early policy easing.