Asian shares gain as investors shift focus to Federal Reserve, tariffs

BANGKOK -- Asian shares have logged modest gains after U.S. stocks climbed to near their all-time high as investors considered comments by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to Congress.

Oil prices gained more than 1% early Wednesday after falling about 6% on Tuesday on hopes that Israel’s war with Iran will not hinder the global flow of crude. Lower oil prices could give the Federal Reserve leeway to cut interest rates to help the economy, and Powell said it is waiting for the right time to do so.

The fragile ceasefire between Iran and Israel, announced by Trump a day earlier, appeared to be holding after initially faltering.

U.S. benchmark crude gained 1.2% to $65.16 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 1.1% to $66.95.

Lower oil prices could give the Federal Reserve leeway to cut interest rates to help the economy, and Powell said it will continue to wait and see how the economy evolves before deciding whether to reduce its key interest rate, a stance directly at odds with President Donald Trump’s calls for immediate cuts.

“For the time being, we are well positioned to wait to learn more about the likely course of the economy before considering any adjustments to our policy stance,” Powell said in testimony Tuesday before the House Financial Services Committee.

In Asian trading early Wednesday, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 picked up 0.3% to 38,917.08 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong advanced 0.9% to 24,386.59.

The Shanghai Composite index rose 0.5% to 3,437.10.

In South Korea, the Kospi edged 0.2% higher to 3,110.19, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.1% to 8,562.90.

Taiwan's Taiex gained 1.1% and the Sensex in India was up 0.7%. In Bangkok, the SET slipped 0.4%.

“The world can now move on to face other difficult choices like tariffs and things like that. So I think the market is well on its way to rebound and could again reach new levels,” said Frances Lun, CEO of GEO Securities in Hong Kong.

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 climbed 1.1% to 6,092.18, following up on big gains for stocks across Europe and Asia, after President Donald Trump said late Monday that Israel and Iran had agreed to a “complete and total ceasefire.” The main measure of Wall Street’s health is back within 0.8% of its record set in February after falling roughly 20% below during the spring.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1.2% to 43,089.02, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 1.4% to 19,912.53.

The fear throughout the Israel-Iran conflict has been that it could squeeze the world’s supply of oil, which would pump up prices for gasoline and hurt the global economy. Iran is a major producer of crude, and it could also try to block the Strait of Hormuz off its coast, through which 20% of the world’s daily oil needs passes on ships.

Now, oil prices have dropped so much in the last two days that they’re below where they were before the fighting began nearly two weeks ago.

With the global oil market well supplied and the OPEC+ alliance of producing countries steadily increasing production, oil prices could be headed even lower as long as the ceasefire holds and a lasting peace solution can be found.

“Easing stress in energy markets is excellent news for everyone who doesn’t want to see higher oil prices translating into accelerating inflation and tighter monetary policy. So the market mood is restored,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst with Swissquote Bank, said in a commentary.

The Fed has said repeatedly that it wants to wait and see how much higher tariffs imposed by Trump will hurt the economy and raise inflation before committing to its next move. So far, the economy seems to be holding up OK, though a report on confidence among U.S. consumers came in weaker than economists expected on Tuesday, and inflation has remained only a bit above the Fed’s 2% target.

In currency dealings, the U.S. dollar rose to 145.10 Japanese yen from 144.93 yen. The euro climbed to $1.1617 from $1.1610.

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Video journalist Alice Feng in Hong Kong and AP Business Writer Stan Choe in New York contributed.