Asian equities rallied into the end of the half-year as investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge due Friday.
A gauge of regional equities climbed as much as 0.6% with Japanese, South Korean and Chinese shares among the top gainers.
Japan’s stock benchmark Topix index was on course for its highest close in 34 years. Contracts for US equities rose.
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump faced off in their first 2024 debate late Thursday in the US. The dollar and Bitcoin rose as the debate got going, and the yen weakened past 161 to the greenback, its lowest levels since 1986 — though they all pared or erased the moves through the course of the debate.
While markets think Trump is winning, “it’s still early to make the conclusion,” said Carol Kong, a strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. “The PCE report will be the bigger market mover that can add to the US dollar gains if we are right about a stronger core PCE.”
