Mount Fuji and the Shinjuku skyline in Tokyo, Japan, on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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Asia-Pacific markets were set to open higher Friday, tracking Wall Street gains after key benchmarks hit new records on the heels of the recent Federal Reserve decision.
The central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday lowered its key overnight borrowing rate by a quarter percentage point, putting it in a range between 3.5%-3.75%.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 is set to open higher, with the futures contract in Chicago at 51,000 and the one in Osaka at 50,920 against the index’s last close of 50,148.82.
Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was 0.83% higher.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 25,788, slightly higher than its last close of 25,530.51.
Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 reached new heights as a Federal Reserve interest rate cut, followed by disappointing Oracle results, prompted investors to move out of high-flying tech stocks and into names that can benefit from a growing U.S. economy.
The 30-stock Dow rose 646.26 points, or 1.34%, to finish at 48,704.01, a fresh closing high. The index also scored a new record intraday high, supported by a rise in Visa shares after the name was upgraded at Bank of America. The broad market S&P 500 traded up 0.21% to settle at 6,901.00, which was also a closing record. However, the Nasdaq Composite pulled back 0.26% to finish at 23,593.86.
—CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Pia Singh contributed to this report.
