Beijing, Jun 14 (AP) Asian stock markets followed Wall Street higher on Wednesday after a cooler reading on U.S. inflation fuelled hopes the Federal Reserve will postpone a possible interest rate hike.

Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney rose.

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

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

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

The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.3 per cent to 3,243.66 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo advanced 33,338.37. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.2 per cent to 19,562.35.

The Kospi in South Korea was off 0.2 per cent at 2,633.34 and Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 gained 0.3 per cent to 7,158.70.

New Zealand declined while Singapore and Bangkok advanced.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose to 4,369.01. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4 per cent to 34,212.12 and the Nasdaq composite rallied 0.8 per cent 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 than a year without a rate hike.

Previous rate hikes led to a contraction in manufacturing and three high-profile bank failures.

Nvidia rallied 3.9 per cent and was the strongest force pushing up the S&P 500, along with other technology stocks. Tech and other high-growth stocks are seen as some of the biggest beneficiaries if the Fed eases off rate hikes.

Nvidia has gotten an added boost from Wall Street's enthusiasm for artificial intelligence.

On Tuesday, four out of five stocks in the S&P 500 rose.

Raw-material producers and industrial companies had some of the biggest gains amid hopes for a resilient economy. Miner Freeport-McMoRan rose 5.3 per cent.

Many traders expect the Fed to resume raising rates in July even if it holds steady this week.

Zions Bancorp. fell 1.6 per cent after it appeared to cut its forecast for upcoming net interest income in an investor presentation.

Many investors came into this year predicting a recession would hit in the third quarter, which is two weeks away. Yet a resilient job market has propped up economic activity.

In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude lost 23 cents to USD 69.19 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose USD 2.30 on Tuesday to USD 69.42. Brent crude, the price basis for international oil trading, shed 19 cents to USD 74.10 per barrel in London. It gained USD 2.45 the previous session to USD 74.29.

The dollar declined to 140.08 yen from Tuesday's 140.29 yen. The euro rose to USD 1.0795 from USD 1.0790. (AP)

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