Asian stocks jump after Powell hints at rate hike slowdown

Asian equities jumped on Thursday, while the dollar slid as investors poured into risky assets after Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell opened the door to a slowdown in the pace of monetary tightening.

In an eagerly awaited speech, Powell said the central bank could scale back the pace of its interest rate hikes "as soon as December," but cautioned that the fight against inflation was far from over.

Powell's comments at the Brookings Institution in Washington sent Wall Street equities soaring, while the US dollar and Treasury yields fell.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan jumped 2 percent in early Asian trade.

The index posted its biggest monthly gain in nearly 30 years in November as hopes for a Fed pivot towards slower rate hikes gathered steam after four consecutive 75-basis-point increases. But the index was still down about 17.5 percent on the year.

Japan's Nikkei opened 1 percent higher while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.85 percent. E-mini futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.20 percent.

ING regional head of research Robert Carnell said it will be very hard now for the Fed to push back against market expectations for a slowdown in rate hikes.

"It looks as if Fed Chair Powell didn't get the memo to push back against pivot hopes and keep financial conditions tight before he went to give his speech," he said.

"So let's hope that inflation does keep on falling, or this may look like a missed opportunity."

Markets are currently pricing in a 91 percent probability that the Fed will increase rates by 50 basis points on Dec 14, and see a 9 percent chance of another 75 basis point hike.

Mainland China stocks opened up 1.2 percent and Hong Kong shares rose 2.5 percent in early trade after they closed higher on Wednesday following the easing of Covid-19 measures in Guangzhou city.

China's factory activity shrank in November as widespread curbs disrupted manufacturers' output, a private sector survey showed on Thursday, weighing on employment and economic growth in the third quarter.

US Treasury yields fell after Powell's comments and remained lower Thursday. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes was down 8.3 basis points at 3.618 percent, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was 6.8 bps lower at 3.755 percent.

The two-year US Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, was down 5.2 bps at 4.321 percent.

The safe-haven dollar also lost its footing, with the dollar index - which measures the currency against six major peers including the yen and euro - extending Wednesday's more than 1 percent drop into Thursday, dipping as low as 105.69.

The Japanese yen strengthened 1.02 percent versus the greenback at 136.65 per dollar, while sterling was last trading at US$1.2086, up 0.25 percent on the day.

In commodity markets, gold prices climbed to a two-week high in early Asian trade on Thursday. Spot gold added 0.5 percent to US$1,776.95 an ounce, while US gold futures gained 1.73 percent to US$1,776.20 an ounce.

- Reuters