Japan, Aussie Stocks Break Ranks with Wall Street

Japanese and Australian markets climbed Thursday, breaking ranks with Wall Street that fell overnight as the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged. Several Asia-Pacific markets were closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.In Japan, the Nikkei 225 climbed 99.19 points, or 0.3%, to 39,513.97. Shares in investment holding company SoftBank Group fell 1.06%, following news that it was in talks to invest up to $25 billion in OpenAI. Japanese tech stocks continued to advance: Advantest rose 3.22% while Tokyo Electron gained 1.87%.Meanwhile, Toyota Motor reported sales of 10.8 million vehicles in 2024, enabling it to retain the spot of the world’s top-selling automaker for a fifth straight year. The automaker’s shares rose 0.65%, following the announcement.Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Ryozo Himino reportedly said Thursday that the central bank would continue to raise interest rates if the “economy and prices move in line with the bank’s forecasts.” The Bank of Japan hiked interest rates by 25 basis points to 0.5% in its meeting last week, bringing them to the highest level since 2008.Australian markets cleared breakeven and more. Australia’s export price index climbed 3.6% in the fourth quarter of 2024, but fell 8.6% through the year, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed. Its import price index rose 0.2% in the same quarter, but fell 1.9% through the year. These indexes reflect the changes in prices of exports from and imports into the country.In other marketsHong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore South Korean markets were closed for Lunar New Year.In New Zealand, the NZX 50 dropped 74.65 points, or 0.6%, to 12,928.39.In Australia, the ASX 200 gained 46.68 points, or 0.6%, to 8,493.70