Pedestrians at Pitt Street Mall on Thursday, July 24, 2025 in Sydney, Australia.
Brendon Thorne Bloomberg | Getty Images
Australian and Japanese markets rose on Friday, reflecting strong Wall Street gains in both countries. S&P500 and Nasdaq Composite Reach new highs.
This was due to strong returns received by investors. apple and caterpillarlooking ahead to weaker-than-expected economic data and U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of escalation in Iran.
Brent crude oil prices briefly rose to $126 a barrel after Axios reported that the U.S. military would brief President Trump on possible action against Iran.
But Brent’s June contract, which expired on Thursday, has since settled at $114.01 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate As of 7:46 p.m. ET, the stock was up 0.61% at $105.71. Brent futures for July ended at $110.4.
The U.S. Commerce Department reported Thursday that gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annualized rate of 2% in the first quarter. That was up from 0.5% in the fourth quarter of 2025, but below the 2.2% consensus estimate by Wall Street economists.
Most major markets in Asia are closed for the May Day holiday.
Japanese Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.38% to 59,513.12, while TOPIX reversed its previous decline and rose 0.04% to end at 3,728.73.
Japanese circle Reports on Thursday that the Japanese government had intervened to support the yen caused the currency to rise slightly against the dollar on Friday, triggering a sharp rally.
The currency breached the $160 level earlier this week, hitting a two-year high of $160.72, and was last trading at $156.56 against the dollar.
australian S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.74% to close at 8,729.8, ending its losing streak at 8 points.
In the US market overnight, the S&P 500 index rose 1.02% to close at a record high of 7,209.01, surpassing the 7,200 mark for the first time. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.89%, setting an intraday and closing record.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.62%.
U.S. futures for all three major indexes were up slightly after trading, with S&P 500 futures up 0.16%, while Nasdaq 100 futures were little changed. Futures tracking the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 79 points, or about 0.2%.
—CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Sean Conlon contributed to this report.
