Investing.com - Asian Pacific markets gained on Thursday morning, following a strong performance on Wall Street overnight.
By 10:40 am AEST (12:40 am GMT), the S&P/ASX 200, KOSPI 200, and Nikkei 225 added 1.1%, 1% and 0.4% respectively.
In the US, a strong performance from Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) pushed the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite to new record highs in a shortened trading session ahead of the July 4 holiday.
The NASDAQ Composite rose by 0.9%, marking its 23rd record close of 2024, while the S&P 500 hit its 33rd high of the year, up by 0.5%. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slightly fell by 0.1%, or 24 points.
New labor-market data has strengthened investors' belief that the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates in its September meeting. The number of private-sector jobs increased by 150,000 in June, a slight decrease from May's rise of 157,000.
Chinese shares have ended lower, primarily influenced by software stocks. However, the Hong Kong market ended higher, supported by tech and auto stocks. Japanese stocks also ended higher, led by gains in electronics and heavy industry stocks, with the Nikkei Stock Average rising by 1.3% to 40,580.76.
In India, the Sensex index briefly rose above 80,000 for the first time, marking a 0.6% increase to 79,901.91. Consumer and financial stocks led the gains amid continuing hopes for domestic economic growth and potential Fed rate cuts.
In the UK, stocks rose with the FTSE 100 Index increasing by 0.6% to 8171.12. European shares also closed higher, with the STOXX Europe 600 Index adding 0.7% to 514.67, Germany's DAX rising 1.2% to 18,374.53, and France's CAC 40 gaining 1.2% to 7,632.08.