Investing.com - Asian stocks rose on Thursday after the Federal Reserve released the minutes of its latest monetary policy meeting, revealing that the U.S. central bank may be very close to announcing plans to stimulate the U.S. economy with monetary easing tools.
Talk that China may loosen monetary policy also sent Asian equities higher.
During Asian trading on Thursday, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 0.73%, Australia's S&P/ASX200 was up 0.22%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index was down 0.27%.
The Federal Reserve will likely stimulate the U.S. economy with monetary easing tools if the country doesn't pick up the pace of its recovery soon, the U.S. central bank revealed in the minutes of its recent monetary policy meeting.
"Many members judged that additional monetary accommodation would likely be warranted fairly soon unless incoming information pointed to a substantial and sustainable strengthening in the pace of the economic recovery," the minutes read.
"Several members noted the benefits of accumulating further information that could help clarify the contours of the outlook for economic activity and inflation as well as the need for further policy action."
The comments sparked a dollar selloff on the notion that the Federal Reserve will announce plans to roll out a new round of quantitative easing soon.
Quantitative easing, under which the Fed buys bonds such as Treasury holdings and mortgage-backed securities from banks, weakens the dollar and keeps interest rates low with the aim of spurring recovery, sending stocks worldwide rising in the process.
The Fed has rolled out two rounds of quantitative easing since the financial crisis hit in 2008, injecting USD2.3 trillion into the economy by acquiring assets held by banks.
Meanwhile, existing home sales came in weaker than expected, spurring more talk of Federal Reserve intervention.
Sales of previously owned homes rose 2.3% in July to 4.47 million units, the National Association of Realtors reported earlier.
Analysts were expecting the number to hit 4.52 million units, however.
Meanwhile in China, People’s Bank of China Governor Zho Xiaochuan said the country may adjust benchmark lending rates or lower reserve requirements for banks to jolt the economy.
Meanwhile, Japanese shares fell on concerns that quantitative easing will weaken the dollar against the yen to the point that Japan's exports to the U.S. may suffer.
In Hong Kong, top gainers included China Shenhua, up 2.45%, China Unicom, up 2.16%, and Henderson Land, up 1.99%.
In Australia, top gainers included St. Barbara Ltd., up 9.03%, Gryphon Minerals, up 8.53%, and Kingsgate Consolidated, up 7.68%.
European stock futures indicated a higher opening.
France's CAC 40 futures pointed to a gain of 0.37%, while Germany's DAX 30 futures also pointed to a gain of 0.37%. Meanwhile in the U.K., FTSE 100 futures indicated a gain of 0.23%.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.25% while the S&P 500 futures were up 0.24%.
Later Thursday, the U.S. will release initial jobless claims, followed by preliminary data on manufacturing activity and official data on new home sales.
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