Overnight trade saw a broad increase in equities and BOJ talk strengthened the yen

On Thursday, most Asian markets saw gains as traders found solace in mounting evidence that the Federal Reserve would soon start cutting interest rates. Talk of an impending change in Japanese policy also strengthened the yen and caused the Nikkei to fall from its record highs.

The Asia-Pacific equities MSCI broadest index outside of Japan increased by 0.5%. aided by Taiwan's share market rising 1.4% to all-time highs.

The yen gained 0.5%, the most in a month, as speculation mounted that the Bank of Japan could decide to stop offering negative interest rates this month.

The better-than-expected China trade numbers did not cause much excitement in the markets, as an official from the state planner had already noted the positive surprise the day before.

A 3.3% decline in the healthcare sector caused Chinese bluechips to drop 0.4%, as news broke that a U.S. bill targeting Chinese biotech businesses including BGI and WuXi AppTec was going forward.

Following Fed Chair Jerome Powell's predictable statement that the Fed still anticipates cutting rates later this year despite the fact that further progress on inflation "is not assured," Wall Street closed higher.

This maintained the 84% chance of a rate drop in June for bettors. The dollar dropped, longer-term bond rates decreased, gold prices reached a record high, and oil prices spiked.

While data indicates that private payrolls in the United States grew somewhat less than anticipated in February, the report's relationship to the official non-farm payrolls report—which is scheduled on Friday—is not very strong.

Investors are currently anticipating European policy actions. The European Central Bank is expected to maintain record interest rates at 4.0%, although policymakers' support for a rate reduction in June would be welcome news to the markets.

With an estimated 88 basis point lowering this year, futures are nearly completely priced in for the ECB's first rate decrease in June.

(Sources: investing.com, reuters.com)