Hong Kong shares .HSI was the top gainer in Asia with a 1 percent rise, while a stronger yen, thanks to the Fed’s cautious outlook, pulled Japan’s Nikkei .N225 back 0.5 percent.
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International Brent crude oil futures were down 0.2 percent at $49.74 per barrel at 1020 GMT. The miner is conducting due diligence on a copper mine in Zambia, the mine’s owner said.
Federal Reserve policymakers agree that more economic data is needed before raising interest rates, although some see a need to tighten policy soon, according to the minutes from the USA central bank’s July 26-27 policy meeting. The Kospi in South Korea added 0.9 percent. New York Fed President William Dudley said in a Thursday speech the past two jobs reports “helped allay concerns that arose earlier this year that job growth was beginning to stall”.
But the minutes showed that inflation – which has stubbornly stuck well below the Federal Open Market Committee’s 2% target – was foremost in their minds.
Although a rate rise would do more harm than good for gold, Yuichi Ikemezi, head of commodity trading at Standard Bank in Tokyo, says there are more supportive factors than just the dovish tone of the Fed.
Crude oil prices hit a monthly high after an unexpected build in inventories.
Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will meet on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum in Algeria on September 26-28. US light crude oil was up $1.02 at $47.81. However, analysts were doubtful on the prospects of an agreement.
The July meeting’s minutes published on Wednesday showed that Fed policymakers were generally upbeat about the United States economic outlook and labour market.
“It seems like the Fed is finding reasons not to hike interest rates, and therefore it was a market-friendly release”, said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Philadelphia-based Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, which manages $54 billion.
The minutes came a day after New York Fed President William Dudley said “it’s possible” to raise rates at the September 20-21 policy meeting and Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said a hike next month is in play.
Oil is priced in dollars, so oil becomes more valuable as the dollar’s value falls.
U.S. Treasury yields slipped as fixed-income investors were also doubtful of the likelihood that the Fed would tighten monetary policy soon, despite Dudley’s comments and another drop in jobless claims.
Federal funds futures on Thursday implied traders saw a 48.8 percent chance of a Fed rate hike this year, according to data from CME Group (Kuala Lumpur: 7018.KL – news) ‘s FedWatch program. Sydney’s S&P ASX 200 gained 0.4 percent to 5,498.40 and India’s Sensex rose 0.6 percent to 28,187.34.
MSCI’s 46-country All World index climbed 0.2 percent to head back towards a one-year high, hauled higher by a 0.5 percent rise in Asian shares, their biggest rise since August 8.
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JAPANESE TRADE: Both exports and imports in July suffered their biggest one-day decline since the aftermath of the global crisis in 2009.
