Investing.com– Most Asian stocks rose on Thursday with technology shares tracking an overnight rally in market darling Nvidia, while Japanese markets soared as a soft reading on producer inflation undermined hawkish signals from the Bank of Japan.
Regional technology stocks rallied after their U.S. peers as NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang talked up strong artificial intelligence demand. Gains were directed largely towards chipmakers.
But U.S. stock index futures were flat in Asian trade, as a stronger-than-expected reading on consumer inflation provided a more sobering outlook on interest rate cuts. Markets were seen positioning for a 25 basis point rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week.
Sectors outside technology also clocked middling gains on Wednesday.
Japan outperforms as soft PPI undermines hawkish BOJ speak
Japan’s Nikkei 225 and TOPIX indexes were by far the best performers in Asia on Thursday, rising between 2% and 3%.
Gains in Japanese stocks came as producer price index inflation data read softer than expected for August.
The reading somewhat undermined recent comments from BOJ officials that interest rates will need to rise further, especially given that any further rate hikes by the BOJ are largely contingent on inflation moving higher.
The BOJ is set to meet next week, with analysts uncertain over whether the central bank will hike interest rates again. But softer inflation gives the central bank less immediate impetus to raise rates.
BOJ board member Naoki Tamura said on Thursday that the bank needed to raise interest rates to at least 1% to avoid inflationary risks.
