BANGKOK — (AP) — Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose to a record close of 40,913.65 points Thursday, while most other major global markets also advanced.
Investors around the world are eager to see the Federal Reserve cut rates it has kept at two-decade highs to slow growth and tame inflation, and hopes have resurged that price pressures are easing enough to make that possible.
In early European trading, Germany's DAX rose 0.2% to 18,586.00 points and Paris' CAC 40 gained 0.8% to 7,694.52 points.
In London, the FTSE 100 rose 0.7% to 8,228.90 points. British voters were electing a new government in a parliamentary election The opposition Labor Party is expected to come to power on Thursday.
S&P 500 futures rose 0.1% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2%.
The Nikkei 225 gained 0.8 percent to 40,913.65 points, helped by buying in automakers and other export-oriented stocks that pushed the benchmark index to a record high. The Nikkei 225's all-time high during intraday trading was 41,087.75 on March 22. Its previous record close was 40,888.43, also set on March 22.
The index surpassed its long-standing record of 38,915.87, set on December 29, 1989, in February.
Shares of Toyota Motor Corp. rose 2 percent and Honda Motor Co. rose 3 percent. Nissan Motor Corp. rose 4.5 percent and computer testing equipment maker Advantest Corp. gained 2.1 percent.
Investors have flocked to the Japanese market in part because of the depreciation of the yen, which is trading at its lowest level in 34 years against the dollar. A weak yen tends to boost exporters' profits when they are repatriated to Japan.
Changes in investment account regulations have also boosted stock buying.
The Nikkei 225 index has gained 22.4% so far this year. The index rose in the late 1980s during Japan's economic bubble, when asset prices soared, but collapsed when that financial bubble imploded in the early 1990s.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng recovered from early losses, rising 0.3% to 18,028.28, and the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.8% to 2,957.57.
Taiwanese firm Taiex rose 1.5% while chipmaker and market heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. gained 2.7%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.2% to 7,831.80, while the Kospi in Seoul advanced 1.1% to 2,824.94.
The Bangkok SET rose 0.5%.
On Wednesday, US stocks continued to rise in a holiday-shortened session after weak reports The economy remained open to possible interest rate cuts.
U.S. markets will be closed on Thursday for the Independence Day holiday.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.5% to hit a record high for the second day in a row and the 33rd time this year. It closed at 5,537.02 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% to 39,308.00 points, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.9% to 18,188.30 points.
The hope on Wall Street is that the economy will slow enough to keep things under control Upward pressure on inflationbut not so much as to leave workers out of work and cause a recession.
A much-anticipated report will come Friday, when the U.S. government will give its full update on how many workers employers added to their payrolls during June.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.35% from 4.44% on Tuesday evening, a notable move for the bond market, with much of the decline coming after the report on U.S. utilities. It has generally been falling since April on hopes that inflation is slowing enough for the Federal Reserve to cut its main interest rate from the highest level in more than two decades.
In other early trading Thursday, benchmark U.S. crude oil lost 41 cents to $83.47 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, lost 35 cents to $86.99 a barrel.
The U.S. dollar fell to 161.23 Japanese yen from 161.67 yen, reflecting expectations that U.S. interest rate cuts could narrow the rate gap with Japan, where the benchmark lending rate is near zero.
The euro rose to $1.0799 from $1.0787.
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