BANGKOK — Japan’s stock benchmark Nikkei stock average soared to a record high of $40,913.65 on Thursday, while almost all other major stock indexes around the world also rose.
Investors around the world are eager for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, which it has kept at two-decade highs to stave off slowing economic growth and tame inflation, reviving hopes that price pressures will ease enough to allow that.
In early European trading hours, Germany’s DAX index rose 0.2% to 18,586.00, while Paris’ CAC 40 index rose 0.8% to 7,694.52.
In London, the FTSE 100 rose 0.7 percent to 8,228.90. British voters are choosing a new government in parliamentary elections on Thursday, with the opposition Labour Party widely expected to take power.
Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2%.
The Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.8% to 40,913.65. Buying of automakers and other export-related stocks helped push the Nikkei to an all-time high. The Nikkei’s highest ever closing price was 41,087.75 on March 22. The previous highest closing price was 40,888.43, also on March 22.
In February, the index surpassed its long-standing record of 38,915.87, set on Dec. 29, 1989.
Toyota Motor Corp. rose 2 percent, Honda Motor Co. rose 3 percent, Nissan Motor Co. rose 4.5 percent and shares of computer test-equipment maker Advantest Corp. rose 2.1 percent.
Investors are flocking to the Japanese market in part because of the weak yen, which is trading at a 34-year low against the dollar. A weaker yen tends to boost profits for exporters when they send money back to Japan.
Changes in regulations regarding investment accounts have also encouraged stock buying.
The Nikkei is up 22.4% so far this year. The index soared during Japan’s bubble economy in the late 1980s as asset prices soared, but then crashed when the financial bubble burst in the early 1990s.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index recovered from early losses to rise 0.3% to 18,028.28, while the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.8% to 2,957.57.
Taiwan’s Taiex rose 1.5%, while chipmaker and market leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) rose 2.7%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.2% to 7,831.80, while Seoul’s KOSPI rose 1.1% to 2,824.94.
Bangkok’s SET rose 0.5 percent.
U.S. stocks continued to rise during holiday-shortened trading hours on Wednesday as a weak report on the economy left an interest rate cut open to possibility.
US markets will be closed on Thursday for Independence Day.
The S&P 500 rose 0.5% on Wednesday, hitting a new all-time high for the second straight day and its 33rd this year, closing at 5,537.02. The Dow fell 0.1% to 39,308.00 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.9% to 18,188.30.
Wall Street is hoping the economy will soften enough to keep inflationary pressures at bay, but not so much that workers lose their jobs and trigger a recession.
A more anticipated report will be released on Friday, when the U.S. government is set to release a comprehensive update on how many workers employers added in June.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.35% from 4.44% late Tuesday in a notable move for the bond market. Most of the decline followed a report on the U.S. services sector. Yields have been trending lower since April on expectations that inflation is slowing and that the Federal Reserve will cut its key interest rate from its highest level in more than two decades.
Benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 41 cents to $83.47 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange early Thursday.
Brent crude, the international standard, fell 35 cents to $86.99 a barrel.
The U.S. dollar fell to 161.23 yen from 161.67 yen, reflecting expectations that U.S. interest rate cuts would narrow the interest rate gap with Japan, where the benchmark lending rate is near zero.
The euro rose to $1.0799 from $1.0787.
