Asia-Pacific markets climb after Fed rate cut boosts Wall Street rally; China's NPC in focus


Asia-Pacific markets climb after Fed rate cut boosts Wall Street rally; China's NPC in focus

This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.

Asia-Pacific markets climbed on Tuesday, after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points and major U.S. indexes continued their postelection rally.

In Asia, investors will be watching the final day of China's National People Congress, which is expected to see announcements of fiscal stimulus aimed at supporting the world's second-largest economy.

Japan's household spending on September declined at a slower pace than expected, official data on Friday showed. Real household spending fell 1.1%, lower than the 2.1% decline expected by economists polls by Reuters.

Futures for Hong Kong's Hang Seng index stood at 21,301, pointing to a stronger open compared to the HSI's close of 20,953. If stocks follow futures, the Hong Kong index will hit its highest level in about a month.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.07%, on pace for a third straight day of gains.

Overnight in the U.S., the S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose Thursday, extending a rally after Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election and the latest rate cut from the Federal Reserve.

The S&P 500 gained 0.74% to close at a record high of 5,973.10. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.51% to reach 19,269.46, its first close above the 19,000 mark.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed, ticking down less than one point. All three indexes hit intraday record highs during the session. The Dow had gained 1,500 points in the previous session.

-- CNBC's Lisa Kailai Han and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.

Japan's average real household spending declined by a less-then-expected 1.1% in September, compared to the 2.1% drop estimated by economists polled by Reuters.

Data from the country's statistics bureau revealed that the average household expenditure was 287,963 yen ($1,880.59).

Average monthly income per household in September was at 493,942 yen, down 1.6% in real terms from the same period a year earlier.

-- Lim Hui Jie

Former U.S. President Donald Trump's victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in this week's election has raised questions about how Asia will be impacted.

"At face value, Trump 2.0 is bad news for Asia, esp[ecially] China," analysts at Macquarie Research wrote in a Nov. 7 note, given the president-elect's plans to raise tariffs and cut taxes.

Even so, the analysts say the region is "more prepared than in 2016" and investment opportunities remain, especially given the weaker yen and stimulus in China.

Bitcoin is on track to hit the $100,000 price milestone by the end of the year after President-elect Donald Trump's election victory, according to analysts.

Trump, who on Wednesday beat Vice President Kamala Harris to win the 2024 U.S. election, had promised several pro-cryptocurrency initiatives in the months leading up to the vote.

CNBC Pro asked analysts for their bitcoin price targets, and when they expect the cryptocurrency to hit them.

Fed Chair Powell said during his press conference that the results of the election will have "no effect" on Fed policy in the near term.

The participation of retail investors after the U.S. election was approximately 5% higher than levels during the 2020 cycle, JPMorgan wrote in a Thursday note to clients.

"Demand for broad market ETFs, leveraged bull tech and Bitcoin ETFs are at multi sigma highs (SPY +15z, TQQQ +11z, IBIT +15z). On the other hand, they sold GLD aggressively (-16z) amid gold's tumbling on dollar strength. In singles, they chased the rally in TSLA (+2z) and PLTR (+6.6z) while selling some Financial names at the peak (CCNE -14z)," strategist Emma Wu added.

Sector wise, Wu said it was apparent retail investors had been continuing to position toward consumer staples and health-care names and away from tech-exposed stocks.

-- Lisa Kailai Han

During a press conference Thursday afternoon, Powell said he would not step down from his position as Fed chief even if President-elect Donald Trump asked him to.

"No," he said in response to a reporter's question on whether or not he would leave if Trump asked him to resign.

Later on, another reporter asked Powell if the president had the power to fire or demote him from his position. The Fed chair responded that such an action was "not permitted under the law."

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