Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Friday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, as stronger than expected US retail sales and weekly jobless claims data helped ease concerns about a recession in the world's largest economy. However, this is expected to prompt the US Fed to go for a lower interest rate cut in September. Asian markets ended mostly higher on Thursday.
Extending the gains the previous five sessions, the Australian stock market is sharply higher on Friday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well above the 7,900 level, with gains across most sectors led by miners and technology stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 100.60 points or 1.28 percent to 7,966.10, after touching a high of 7,976.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 102.00 points or 1.26 percent to 8,185.80. Australian markets ended modestly higher on Thursday.
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May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.