(Bloomberg) — Asian stocks eked out gains on Tuesday, following Wall Street’s advance on optimism the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates this year. The yen dropped.
A gauge of regional equities is set for its longest run of gains since February, helped by rally in Japanese, Korean and Australian shares. While the Nikkei 225 jumped as much as 1.6% as investors in Tokyo returned to work after a holiday, markets in Hong Kong and Shanghai swung between losses and gains.
The yen fell after Japan’s top currency official Masato Kanda said there was no need for the government to intervene if the market is functioning properly.
Global equity markets are getting a lift as investors revise their Fed policy bets due to soft US jobs data. Battered Chinese shares have benefitted from news of China’s top leaders vowing explore new measures to tackle a protracted housing crisis.
“In Asia you have higher growth and earnings…
