Investing.com - The week saw a promising start for Asia-Pacific share markets, following a positive close on Wall Street last week, spurred by growing expectations of an upcoming interest-rate cut from Federal Reserve policymakers.
The S&P/ASX 200 experienced a 0.9% increase, while South Korea's KOSPI 200 rose slightly by 0.1%. Japan's Nikkei 225, however, remained closed due to a public holiday.
In the US, investor confidence in an imminent rate cut led the Dow Jones Industrial Average to close above the 40,000 mark for only the second time, while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite each climbed 0.6%, marking weekly gains for all three indices.
In the commodities market, Brent crude oil dipped slightly by 0.4% to US$85.03 a barrel, while gold also experienced a slight decrease of 0.2% to US$2,411.43.
Chinese shares, however, closed mostly lower as investors turned their attention to the Third Plenum, a crucial political economy meeting set to start on Monday. The meeting will offer more signals on the country's five-year plan. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended flat, while the Shenzhen Composite Index and the ChiNext Price Index both recorded minor decreases. Despite the general downward trend, property stocks saw a surge with investors anticipating more stimulus for the property sector in the upcoming plenum meeting.
Hong Kong shares ended on a high note, with property and consumer-related tech stocks leading the gains. Investors are hopeful for further supportive policies from China's Third Plenum meeting, particularly those targeting the struggling property sector. Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) and Meituan saw significant gains, while property developers like China Resources Land and China Overseas Land & Investment also experienced an uplift.
Japanese stocks ended lower, with electronics and financial stocks experiencing a dip due to a selloff in U.S. tech stocks, leading to sharp drops in bond yields. The Nikkei Stock Average fell 2.4%, while the 10-year Japanese government bond yield fell 4 basis points.
In India, the Sensex rose 0.8%, primarily driven by the tech sector. Despite mixed signals from global markets, Indian equities likely attracted buyers during recent dips, reflecting positive market sentiment.
In Europe, the U.K. stocks rose with the FTSE 100 Index gaining 0.4%. Among large companies, Jet2 PLC, Genus PLC, and Alphawave IP Group PLC recorded significant gains. Other parts of Europe also saw markets closing higher, with the STOXX Europe 600 Index, Germany's DAX, and France's CAC 40 all experiencing an uplift