FILE PHOTO: A man walks past an electronic screen displaying stock quotation board in Tokyo, Japan April 15, 2025. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo

By Gregor Stuart Hunter

SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Asian stocks were mostly higher on Thursday as dovish comments from Federal Reserve officials and a smooth auction of Japanese super-long debt eased investor jitters in bond markets.

Shares rose in Australia, India and Japan, but Chinese shares fell the most since April on reports of regulatory intervention to tame runaway speculation.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan,, gave up early gains and was down 0.2%, dragged lower by losses in China.

The CSI 300 fell as much as 2.6% and was on track for a third day of declines after Bloomberg News said financial regulators were preparing cooling measures for the market.

U.S. stock futures rose 0.1% as investors took heart Fed officials' comments and the 30-year Japanese government bond auction went off smoothly, drawing buyers into beaten-down equities.

Australian shares advanced 1%, recovering from their biggest one-day sell-off since April, while the Nikkei 225 rose 1.6%.

"We got one or two days of weakness but the dip-buyers have stepped in," said Tony Sycamore, market analyst at IG in Sydney.

"Many people are looking for this weakness in September to be a buying opportunity," with economic growth still resilient, he added. "This is a good backdrop for equities."

India's benchmark Sensex was up 1.1% as markets opened, after the government slashed levies on several goods to fire up consumption and counteract U.S. tariffs.

Financial markets started September in a downbeat mood, with a sell-off in longer-dated bonds dousing investor confidence ahead of critical U.S. non-farm payrolls on Friday.

Overnight, the selloff in bond markets slowed, but concerns about the fiscal health of major economies from Japan and the United States to Britain kept long-dated borrowing costs pinned near multi-year highs.

Investors got a timely boost to sentiment after Federal Reserve officials, including Governor Christopher Waller, expressed support for rate cuts in coming months.

President Donald Trump's pick for an open seat on the Federal Reserve Board, Stephen Miran, said he would work to preserve the central bank's independence, ahead of Thursday's confirmation hearing before the Senate banking committee.

Market bets for a rate cut at the Fed's meeting later this month were also supported by weaker-than-expected job openings data in the latest "JOLTS" report on Wednesday.

"Investors have compelling reasons to maintain a risk-on stance," said Thilan Wickramasinghe, head of research at Maybank in Singapore.

"U.S. job openings hit a 10-month low, and this is amplifying pressure on the Fed to cut rates this month — an optimistic signal the markets have been waiting for."

The Federal Reserve's "Beige Book" painted a mixed picture of U.S. economic health, which appeared to underscore monetary policymakers' concerns. Analysts at ING called it quite "bleak", adding that it was "littered with" tariff warnings on prices. Traders are now pricing in a 99.7% probability of a cut to interest rates at the Fed's September meeting, the CME Group's FedWatch tool showed.

The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes rose to 4.2226% over its U.S. close of 4.211% on Wednesday. The two-year yield, which rises with traders' expectations of higher Fed funds rates, touched 3.6187% compared with a U.S. close of 3.612%.

The dollar edged up 0.1% against the yen at 148.25, keeping within the trading range where it has stayed since the beginning of August.

The European single currency was down 0.1% at $1.1650, while the dollar index which tracks the currency against a basket of currencies of other major trading partners, was up 0.1% at 98.239.

In commodities markets, Brent crude dipped 0.6% to $67.17 a barrel.

Precious metal prices nudged lower, with spot gold off 0.8% at $3529.94 per ounce after hitting a record on Wednesday. [GOL/]

(Reporting by Gregor Stuart Hunter; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Clarence Fernandez)