LONDON: Major stock markets mostly rose and the dollar fell on Thursday before the release of US inflation data that could have a huge bearing on the Federal Reserve’s timetable for cutting interest rates. The positive vibes across Asian and European trading floors followed gains Wednesday on Wall Street, where tech firms bounced after a relatively dour start to the year and dealers were gearing up for annual earnings from the world’s biggest companies.

“Today sees the latest US inflation data take centre stage, with sentiment for US stocks expected to remain highly sensitive to any changes in the outlook for monetary policy going forward,” said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets. Wall Street won support Wednesday thanks to share-price gains for tech titans Amazon, Microsoft and Google-parent Alphabet, which have had a weak start to 2024. Tokyo led the way in Asia on Thursday, piling on 1.8 percent to finish above 35,000 points for the first time since early 1990 as a weak yen boosted exporters.

Bitcoin held at around $46,600, having burst above $47,700 earlier in the day on news that the US Securities and Exchange Commission had given the go-ahead for wider trading of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency in the form of exchange-traded funds. The SEC approved the plans for 11 ETFs to list on leading exchanges including the New York Stock Exchange “on an accelerated basis”, it said.

Analysts said the unit failed to take off after the news as the decision had largely been priced in over recent weeks. ETFs are traded on public markets, granting investors exposure to price movements in asset prices without taking direct ownership of the underlying assets. — AFP