Stock market today: Asian stocks mixed after US inflation cools

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets were mixed Wednesday after a cooler reading on U.S. inflation buoyed hopes the Federal Reserve will postpone a possible interest rate hike.

Shanghai, Tokyo and Sydney rose while Hong Kong and Seoul declined.

Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index gained 0.7% to a 14-month high after government data Tuesday showed U.S. consumer inflation eased to 4% over a year earlier in May from the previous month's 4.9%. It was less than half last June's peak of 9.1% but still double the Fed's 2% target.

That reinforced hopes the Fed will avoid announcing another rate hike when its monthly meeting ends Wednesday. Two Fed board members have said the U.S. central bank should put off another hike while it studies the impact of previous increases.

“The Fed will see this as a window of opportunity to pause,” Clifford Bennett of ACY Securities said in a report.

The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.2% to 3,241.57 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo advanced 1.5% to 33,495.29. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost less than 0.1% to 19,511.86.

The Kospi in South Korea was off 0.7% at 2,619.68 and Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 gained 0.3% to 7,159.90.

India's Sensex opened down 0.1% at 63,071.69. New Zealand declined while Singapore and Bangkok advanced.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 30.08 points Tuesday to 4,369.01. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4% to 34,212.12 and the Nasdaq composite rallied 0.8% to 13,573.32.

Traders hope the U.S. economy can avoid a recession even after the Fed raised its benchmark lending rate to a 16-year high to extinguish surging inflation by cooling business activity.

Tuesday's inflation reading prompted traders to increase bets for the Fed to announce no change to interest rates. That would be the first monthly meeting in more...