World stocks climb after Wall Street rallies on hopes for lower interest rates

Shares in Europe and Asia advanced on Wednesday after benchmarks on Wall Street surged on hopes the Federal Reserve will soon opt to cut interest rates.

The future for the S&P 500 gained 0.3%, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2%.

In early European trading, Germany’s DAX gained 0.2% to 23,500.98, while the CAC 40 in Paris also rose 0.2%, to 9,623.22. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged 0.1% higher.

In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.9% to 49,559.07 in a broad rally that encompassed major exporters and technology shares. However, shares in Kioxia dropped 14.9% on reports that Bain Capital plans to sell $2.3 billion of the computer memory maker’s shares.

In South Korea, the Kospi gained 2.7%, to 3,960.87, helped by a 3.5% gain for Samsung Electronics, the market’s biggest heavyweight. Computer chip maker SK Hynix climbed 1%.

Taiwan’s Taiex surged 1.9%.

Chinese markets were mixed.