Investing.com - Asian Pacific markets lifted during Thursday's early trade, following gains among US indices overnight.
By 11:40 am AEDT (12:40 am GMT) the S&P/ASX 200, KOSPI 200 and Nikkei 225 added 0.8%, 0.4% and 1% respectively.
US stocks broadly ended in the green as they recovered from the previous session's significant drop, triggered by concerns that a high inflation reading would deter the Federal Reserve from reducing interest rates in the near future. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 0.4% or 151 points to 38424, while the S&P 500 gained 1% to reach 5000, and the Nasdaq rose 1.3% to 15859.
In the commodities market, Brent crude oil saw a 1.5% decline to US$81.55 a barrel, while gold experienced a minor decrease of 0.1% to US$1,990.90. In the local bond markets, the yield on Australian 2 Year government bonds increased to 3.94%, while the 10 Year yield also rose to 4.26%. U.S. Treasury notes were lower, with the 2 Year yield at 4.58% and the 10 Year yield at 4.27%.
The Australian dollar was valued at 64.88 US cents, slightly down from its previous close of 64.51.
In Asia, Chinese markets remained closed due to the Lunar New Year holidays. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed 0.8% higher at 15879.38, led by consumer and leisure stocks. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.7% to close at 37703.32, affected by fading prospects of Federal Reserve rate cuts following stronger-than-expected U.S. inflation data.
In Europe, shares experienced an uplift after U.K. inflation data came in lower than anticipated. The Stoxx Europe 600 advanced 0.3%, the FTSE 100 rallied 0.8%, the CAC 40 rose 0.4%, and the DAX edged 0.1% higher. The FTSE 100 ended the session 0.8% higher on Wednesday at 7,568.40 points, aided by the below-forecast U.K. inflation data that halted the global markets' sell-off triggered by disappointing U.S. CPI data