Asian Shares Climb On Rate Cut Optimism

Asian stocks advanced on Tuesday amid expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates later this year.

The yen was under pressure, helping lift Japanese markets to a three-week high.

The Aussie dollar slipped, and bonds rallied as the Reserve Bank of Australia held interest rates steady as widely expected and sounded less hawkish on the policy outlook than many had feared.

Elsewhere in China, data showed the country recorded high tourism figures during the Labour Day holiday, beating pre-pandemic levels.

Shenzhen and Wuhan have further eased home purchase restrictions to boost sales as the property market slump continued over the May Day public holiday.

Gold slipped in Asian trading following hawkish comments from a couple of Fed officials.

Oil prices held steady as Israel rejected a statement from Hamas that it had accepted a cease-fire proposal to end the fighting in Gaza.

China's Shanghai Composite index ended up 0.22 percent at 3,147.74, reversing an early slide. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 0.53 percent to 18,479.37 after a 10-day winning streak.

Japanese markets rallied as trading resumed after a holiday. The Nikkei average jumped 1.57 percent to 38,835.10, marking a three-week closing high as the yen continued to weaken despite warnings from authorities that they would act in the event of volatility. The broader Topix index settled 0.65 percent higher at 2,746.22.

Tech stocks topped the gainers list after Apple posted stronger-than-expected sales last quarter. Advantest rose 2.3 percent, SoftBank Group rallied 3.7 percent, Tokyo Electron jumped 5.2 percent and Disco Corp soared 8.9 percent. Nikkei heavyweight Fast Retailing gained 3.2 percent.

A private survey showed earlier in the day that Japanese service sector activity grew at the fastest pace in eight months in April as a result of rising business and consumer spending.

Seoul stocks climbed, with the Kospi average rallying 2.16 percent to 2,734.36 in catch-up trade as trading resumed after a long holiday weekend. Tech stocks surged, with Samsung Electronics gaining 4.8 percent and SK Hynix adding 3.7 percent.

Australian markets saw their biggest gain in three months after the RBA rate decision. The benchmark S&P ASX 200 rose 1.44 percent to 7,793.30 while the broader All Ordinaries index closed up 1.42 percent at 8,065.50.

Gains were seen across the board. Power producer AGL Energy soared 7.4 percent after hiking its profit guidance for FY2024. Lender ANZ finished marginally higher despite first-half earnings coming in below estimates.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P NZX-50 index slipped 0.17 percent to 11,800.78.

U.S. stocks rose overnight amid solid first-quarter earnings reports and hopes for interest rate cuts before the end of the year.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite surged 1.2 percent and the S&P 500 added 1 percent while the Dow inched up half a percent to post its fourth consecutive daily gain.

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