Asian Shares Rise after rally on Wall Street

Shares advanced in Asia on Thursday after a rally on Wall Street spurred by the Federal Reserve chair’s comments on easing the pace of interest rate hikes to tame inflation, the AP reported.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index added 0.9% to 28,226.08 while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong advanced 1.4% to 18,859.73. The Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.5% to 3,166.23. In Seoul, the Kospi picked up 0.3% to 2,479.84. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 1% to 7,354.40.
Bangkok’s SET rose 0.9% a day after the central bank raised its key interest rate by a quarter point to 1.25%, aiming to curb inflation.
In other trading Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 41 cents to $80.14 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It climbed 3% on Wednesday.
Brent crude, the pricing basis for international trading, shed 54 cents to $86.43 a barrel.
The U.S. dollar fell to 136.32 Japanese yen from 138.09 yen. The euro rose to $1.0454 from $1.0409.