SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian shares followed Wall Street higher on Wednesday as a bullish outlook from the head of the U.S. central bank buoyed the dollar, lifted Tokyo shares to a one-month top and sent gold to a one-year trough.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 leapt 1 percent as a weakening yen promised to fatten exporters' profits.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS added 0.5 percent and Shanghai blue chips .CSI300 0.6 percent.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stuck with an upbeat assessment on the U.S. economy while downplaying the impact of global trade risks on the outlook for rate rises.
“The outlook is consistent with two further quarter point rate increases this year, likely in September and December,” said Barclays economist Michael Gaspen.
“The main risk is that individuals, business, and financial markets have underestimated the desire of Trump to re-orient trade flows and that further steps to implement tariffs will lead to a reduction in confidence, a slowdown in hiring, and a correction in equity markets,” he added.
BofA Merrill Lynch’s latest fund manager survey showed a trade war remained the biggest risk cited by no less than 60 percent of respondents.
For now, U.S. companies seem to be profiting mightily from tax cuts as the earnings season shifts into high gear. Analysts now see second-quarter S&P 500 earnings growth of 21.2 percent, up from 20.7 percent on July 1.
Of the 39 companies in the index that have reported so far, 84.6 percent have come in ahead of street expectations. The Dow
