Japan’s Nikkei breaches 51,000 mark for the first time

Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped more than 2% to hit a record high above 51,000 for the first time Wednesday, lifted by renewed optimism over U.S.-Japan trade ties and expectations of another Federal Reserve rate cut.

The gains came after U.S. President Donald Trump and Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi signed a new rare earths framework on Tuesday. Markets also grew more confident that the Fed would deliver a second straight 25 basis point cut to support slowing growth.

Trump’s visit marked his first meeting with Takaichi, who assumed office earlier this month. He also met Emperor Naruhito at the Imperial Palace.

Takaichi’s premiership will shift the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party toward more economically liberal, socially conservative, and hawkish security policies, FitchSolutions company GeoQuant wrote in a note.

Markets are pricing in nearly 100% odds that the Federal Open Market Committee will deliver another quarter-point reduction, on the heels of September’s cut, bringing the federal funds rate to a range between 3.75%-4.00%.

“If [Fed chair Jerome Powell] comes off dovish, bets for future Fed cuts will increase and provide more fuel to market momentum,” veteran investor Louis Navellier wrote in a daily note.

The federal funds rate, set by the Federal Open Market Committee, is the interest rate banks charge each other for overnight loans. While it doesn’t directly affect consumers, the Fed’s moves often influence borrowing costs for mortgages, credit cards and other loans.

The Topix, however, lost 0.15%. South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.77%, while the small-cap Kosdaq lost 0.28%.

India’s Nifty 50 gained 0.44%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.96%. Australia’s consumer prices rose 3.2% in the third quarter, the strongest gain in more than a year, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday. The increase exceeded the 2.1% rise seen in the second quarter and was above the 3% forecast by economists polled by Reuters.

Mainland CSI 300 was up around 1%.

Hong Kong markets are closed for the holidays.

Overnight in the U.S., all three major averages closed higher. The S&P 500 rose 0.23% to close at 6,890.89. It had surpassed the 6,900 level for the first time on an intraday basis earlier in the day.

The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.80% to finish at 23,827.49, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 161.78 points, or 0.34%, to settle at 47,706.37. In addition to their closing highs, the tech-heavy Nasdaq and 30-stock Dow scored new all-time intraday highs alongside the broad market S&P 500.

—CNBC’s Jeff Cox, Sean Conlon and Pia Singh contributed to this report.