A man walks past an electronic stock quotation board outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, November 13, 2018. REUTERS/Toru HanaiTOKYO: 29 November 2018: Asian stocks rose on Thursday, tracking gains on Wall Street, after the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve suggested it may nearing an end to its three-year rate tightening cycle, boosting interest in riskier assets.Spreadbetters expected European stocks to open higher, with Britain’s FTSE rising 0.5 percent, Germany’s DAX adding 0.6 percent and France’s CAC gaining 0.65 percent.The dollar and U.S. Treasury yields fell after Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that U.S. policy rates were “just below” neutral, less than two months after saying rates were probably “a long way” from that point.MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.6 percent.Australian stocks gained 0.6 percent and Japan’s Nikkei climbed 0.4 percent. The two-year Treasury yield was down for the third straight session.Oil prices clawed back some ground from losses in the previous session, but an increase in U.S. crude inventories and uncertainty in the run to an OPEC meeting next week kept markets under pressure. [O/R]U.S. crude futures were up 0.3 percent at $50.41 per barrel after sliding 2.5 percent the previous day.Brent crude inched down 0.1 percent to $59.69 per barrel. It has slumped 21 percent this month, during which it fell to a 13-month trough of $58.41.

Source: Egypt Today November 29, 2018 06:56 UTC