Asian Pacific Stocks Rise, U.S Fed Leaves Benchmark Interest Rate at Zero

Asia-Pacific markets rose after the U.S. Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate near zero meanwhile, shares in Hong Kong continued to see a rebound on Thursday from a two-day slump earlier in the week.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumped 3.3% to close at 26,315.32. The index had dived more than 8% over two days early this week.

Chinese tech stocks in Hong Kong, which were hit hard by the market rout earlier in the week, soared. The shares of Tencent jumped 10.02% while Alibaba gained 7.7% and Meituan climbed 9.49%. The Hang Seng Tech index soared 8% to 6,958.77.

Mainland Chinese stocks also saw strong gains, with the Shanghai composite up 1.49% to close at 3,411.72 and the Shenzhen component surging 3.045% to finish the trading day at 14,515.32.

China’s securities regulators told brokerages late Wednesday that the country will allow Chinese firms to go public in the U.S. as long as they meet listing requirements, a source familiar with the matter told CNBC.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 advanced 0.73% to close at 27,782.42 while the Topix index gained 0.41% to finish the trading day at 1,927.43.

Elsewhere, South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.18% on the day to 3,242.65 while the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia climbed 0.52% to close at 7,417.40. While the MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 2.1%.

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