Asian stock markets are mostly higher on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point as widely expected, and struck a dovish tone on future rate hikes amid stubbornly low inflation.
The Australian market is advancing following the mostly positive cues overnight from Wall Street after the Federal Reserve interest rate decision. Mining and oil stocks are among the leading gainers.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is adding 14.50 points or 0.24 percent to 6,036.30, off a high of 6,043.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 15.60 points or 0.26 percent to 6,118.70.
The major miners are advancing. Fortescue Metals is rising 0.6 percent, BHP Billiton is adding 0.7 percent and Rio Tinto is higher by almost 1 percent.
Oil stocks are mostly higher despite the overnight decline in crude oil prices. Oil Search is adding 0.3 percent and Santos is up 0.4 percent, while Woodside Petroleum is edging down less than 0.1 percent.
Origin Energy has committed to cut its carbon emissions by 50 per cent by 2032, as part of the company's transition to a low-carbon business to help limit global warming. The energy producer's shares are rising 0.4 percent.
However, gold miners are mixed. Newcrest Mining is edging down less than 0.1 percent, while Evolution Mining is adding 0.4 percent.
The big four banks are mostly lower. ANZ Banking is edging down less than 0.1 percent and National Australia Bank is down 0.3 percent, while Westpac is rising 0.6 percent.
Commonwealth Bank revealed that AUSTRAC intends to make further allegations against the bank related to breaches of money laundering and counter-terrorism laws. The bank's shares are down 0.3 percent.
Monadelphous Group said it has secured new contracts worth A$110 million in the resources and infrastructure sectors, including three separate three-year contracts. The engineering service provider's shares are gaining almost 4 percent.
Woolworths said it is disappointed with the ACCC's decision to oppose the A$1.8 billion takeover of its service stations by BP Australia, and will now assess options. Shares of Woolworths are losing 0.6 percent.
A2 Milk Company has named Qantas Loyalty boss Jayne Hrdlicka as its chief executive, succeeding Geoffrey Babidge who is due to retire in 2018. The company's shares are declining 0.2 percent.
Shares of Myer are falling almost 7 percent after the department store giant said it now expects profit for the first half of fiscal 2018 would be "materially below" the year-ago period's net profit of A$62.8 million.
On the economic front, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that the jobless rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 5.4 percent in November. That was in line with expectations and unchanged from the October reading.
The Australian economy added 61,600 jobs last month to 12,403,000 - shattering expectations for a gain of 19,000 following the addition of 7,800 jobs in the previous month.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar is significantly higher against the U.S. dollar, which weakened after the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike. In early trades, the local unit was quoted at US$0.7635, up from $0.7575 on Wednesday.
The Japanese market slipped into negative territory after opening higher following the mostly positive lead overnight from Wall Street after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter point as widely expected.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 30.81 points or 0.14 percent to 22,727.26, after rising to a high of 22,786.61 earlier.
The major exporters are mostly lower. Sony is down 0.4 percent, Canon is losing 0.3 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is declining 0.2 percent, while Panasonic is rising more than 2 percent after the company and Toyota announced an agreement to commence a study to advance the development of automotive batteries.
Shares of Rakuten are losing more than 4 percent after the Nikkei business daily reported that the company plans to enter the mobile carrier industry that is already dominated by SoftBank, NTT Docomo and KDDI.
In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are down more than 2 percent each. Among automakers, Toyota is adding 0.1 percent, while Honda is down 0.6 percent.
In the oil space, Inpex is declining 1 percent, while Japan Petroleum is up more than 1 percent.
Among the market's best performers, Comsys Holdings is rising more than 3 percent, Sumco Corp. is higher by more than 2 percent and Tokuyama Corp. is advancing almost 2 percent.
On the flip side, Casio Computer and Sompo Holdings are down almost 3 percent each.
In economic news, Japan will see final October figures for industrial production and preliminary December numbers for the Manufacturing PMI from Nikkei.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 112 yen-range on Thursday.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea, New Zealand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan are all higher, while Shanghai and Singapore are lower.
On Wall Street, stocks traded modestly higher for most of Wednesday, although the S&P 500 faded after the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision. As expected, the Fed raised the benchmark U.S. interest rate to a range of 1.25 percent to 1.5 percent, but struck a dovish tone on future rate hikes amid stubbornly low inflation.
The Dow added 80.63 points or 0.33 percent to 24,585.43 and the Nasdaq gained 13.48 points or 0.20 percent to 6,875.80, while the S&P 500 eased 1.26 points or 0.05 percent to 2,662.85.
Most of the European markets ended Wednesday's session in the red. The DAX of Germany dropped 0.44 percent, the CAC 40 of France fell 0.51 percent and the FTSE 100 of the U.K. declined 0.05 percent.
Crude oil futures fell Wednesday after the dollar strengthened following the Fed's rate hike. WTI crude lost $0.54 or 1 percent to settle at $56.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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