MANILA – On Thursday, Asian stock markets mirrored Wall Street’s positive momentum, marking a fourth consecutive day of gains.

Meanwhile, U.S. futures remained largely steady, and oil prices faced a downturn.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 saw a 1% increase, reaching 50,069.33, fueled by investor optimism that the Federal Reserve might lower interest rates during its December 10 meeting.

The Japanese government is also expected to issue 11 trillion yen ($70.5 billion) in new bonds to support its economic initiatives. Tech stocks saw significant gains, with SoftBank Group rising 2.8% and Kioxia Holdings climbing 5.7%, recovering from a nearly 15% drop the previous day.

In China, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index advanced by 0.3% to settle at 25,927.96, while the Shanghai Composite index inched up by 0.1%, closing at 3,883.01.

Gains were tempered by data that showed profits for the first ten months of 2025 at major Chinese industrial firms rose a lackluster 1.9% year-on-year, down from 3.2% growth in the previous period.

In South Korea, the Kospi added 0.7% to 3,986.54 after the Bank of Korea also kept its policy rate unchanged at 2.5%, supporting financial stability amid a weakened currency and market concerns on rising housing prices.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose less than 0.1% to 8,610.50 while Taiwan’s tech-heavy Taiex index added 0.2%.

On Wednesday, U.S. stocks closed broadly higher, with the S&P 500 gaining 0.7% to 6,812.61. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7% to 47,427.12, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.8% to 23,214.69.

Stocks have been rallying as comments from Federal Reserve officials have given traders more confidence the central bank will again cut interest rates at its meeting in December. Traders are betting on a nearly 83% probability that the Fed will cut next month, according to data from CME Group.

Solid gains for technology companies led the rally, though most sectors in the benchmark S&P 500 index finished higher. Gainers also outnumbered decliners by more than 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange.

U.S. markets have a shortened trading week due to the Thanksgiving holiday, closing on Thursday and opening for shorter hours on Friday.

The market’s recent rebound, fueled by investor hopes for another Federal Reserve interest rate cut in December, has helped erase most of the major indexes’ losses following a bout of selling earlier this month.

Dell Technologies climbed 5.8% after saying it has received record orders for its artificial intelligence servers. Dell and other technology companies had fallen earlier in the month as investors worried the prices for their stocks had gotten too frothy amid the frenzy over AI. Nvidia, the market’s most valuable company, rose 1.4%.

Microsoft gained 1.8% and Broadcom added 3.3%.

Financial sector stocks also helped lift the market. Robinhood Markets jumped 10.9% for the biggest gain among S&P 500 companies after the trading platform said it plans to roll out a futures and derivatives exchange next year to expand its predictions market business.

Urban Outfitters joined a host of other retailers this week in reporting earnings that exceeded Wall Street forecasts, and its shares jumped 13.5%.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 3.99% and the yield on the 2-year Treasury rose to 3.48%.

In other dealings early Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude shed 28 cents to $58.37 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard lost 33 cents to $61.84 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar slipped to 156.14 Japanese yen from 156.40. The euro rose to $1.1609 from $1.1601.

___ AP Business Writer Alex Veiga contributed.