By Associated Press
SINGAPORE — Asian stocks mostly rose Thursday after the Federal Reserve kept its accommodative monetary policies and signaled that economic recovery was on track.
Chinese technology giants led the way, as authorities moved to soothe jitters over anti-monopoly and data-security enforcement against the industry.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 /zigman2/quotes/210597971/delayed JP:NIK +0.50% gained 0.7%, while the Kospi /zigman2/quotes/210598069/delayed KR:180721 +0.61% in South Korea was slightly higher. The Hang Seng /zigman2/quotes/210598030/delayed HK:HSI +0.29% in Hong Kong jumped 2.7%.
The Shanghai Composite Index /zigman2/quotes/210598127/delayed CN:SHCOMP +0.26% rebounded 1% after three days of declines. Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 /zigman2/quotes/210598100/delayed AU:XJO +0.74% added 0.4%. Stocks gained in Singapore /zigman2/quotes/210597985/delayed SG:STI -0.38% , Taiwan /zigman2/quotes/210597977/delayed TW:Y9999 +0.36% and Indonesia /zigman2/quotes/210597981/delayed ID:JAKIDX +0.63% .
Games and social media giant Tencent Holding Ltd. /zigman2/quotes/204605823/delayed HK:700 +3.15% surged 7.2% in Hong Kong. Internet search giant Baidu Inc. /zigman2/quotes/201047207/delayed HK:9888 +0.87% was up 5.4% in the territory, while its Wall Street-traded shares /zigman2/quotes/209050136/composite BIDU -1.34% jumped 5.7%
E-commerce giant Alibaba Group /zigman2/quotes/215112034/delayed HK:9988 +0.07% shares in Hong Kong climbed 4.8%, mirroring a 5.3% gain on Wall Street overnight.
Chinese internet shares had slid earlier this week on reports that Beijing was considering restrictions on for-profit education ventures.
The China Securities and Regulatory Commission’s meeting with top investment bankers on Wednesday night “appears to have calmed the most frazzled of nerves,” said Venkateswaran Lavanya of Mizuho Bank.
“But this does not put wider Chinese regulatory risks to bed. For one, claims of targeted clampdown on the $100bn private tuition industry does not address, certainly not denounce, ongoing regulatory tightening in tech and property,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Fed said Wednesday that “the economy has made progress” toward its goals of low unemployment and stable inflation.
The central bank however left its key interest rate unchanged at the end of a two-day policy meeting. It will also keep buying $120 billion in Treasury and mortgage bonds each month until more progress is made.
“The Fed maintained its accommodative monetary policies near-term. While discussions of tapering plans are underway, the markets may be relieved that no tapering timeline was set out,” said Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist at IG in Singapore.
Over on Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 /zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime SPX -0.09% was little changed at 4,400.64. The Dow Jones Industrial Average /zigman2/quotes/210598065/realtime DJIA +0.04% lost 0.4% to 34,930.93. The Nasdaq /zigman2/quotes/210598365/realtime COMP -0.16% added 0.7% to 14,762.58.
In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude rose 31 cents to $72.70 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude oil , the basis for international oil prices, added 33 cents to $75.07.
The dollar /zigman2/quotes/210561789/realtime/sampled USDJPY +0.3301% slid to 109.80 yen from 109.91 yen on Thursday.
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