Asia’s major equity markets closed the final session of the week mostly in positive territory, driven by investors scaling back expectations that the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at its next policy meeting.
The MSCI Asia Pacific index, the benchmark for regional trading, advanced nearly 1% on Friday morning as most major exchanges in the region were already closed. The gains followed a strongly positive session on Wall Street, where comments from Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller gave fresh impetus to US equities. In Europe, futures trading pointed to a virtually flat open, with the Euro Stoxx 50 edging up just 0.01%.
“If there is continued progress toward our 2% inflation target, I would be comfortable holding the policy rate at its current level,” Waller said at an event organised by Reuters. “But if inflation comes in higher than expected, I would consider raising rates,” he added.
Following those remarks, the swaps market revised down expectations for a rate increase at the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in two weeks’ time. The probability of a hike was marked below 70%, with investors now awaiting the August US non-farm payrolls report due Friday for fresh clues on the direction of American monetary policy.
Waller’s speech “is very significant, because it may have altered or influenced the balance of the Fed’s next monetary policy decision,” Suresh Tantia, Chief Investment Officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, told Bloomberg TV. “At this point, we are watching two key things: one is the jobs report out this Friday, and the next inflation data. These will likely determine whether the Fed acts at its next meeting or not,” he added.
Among individual market performances, China’s Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite diverged, with the former rising 1.8% and the latter slipping 0.46%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.28% while the Topix edged up 0.05%. South Korea’s Kospi advanced 1.57%, while Australia’s ASX 200 dipped 0.16%.
Source: Diário Económico
Original article: https://www.diarioeconomico.co.mz/2026/09/04/mercados/waller-da-gas-as-accoes-asiaticas-europa-devera-ficar-de-fora-do-rally/
