Asia markets trade higher following strong gains on Wall Street overnight

Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.63% in early trade, with index heavyweight Fanuc surging more than 3%. The Topix index also gained 1.54% as the sectors advanced.

Over in South Korea, the Kospi rose 0.61% as chipmaker SK Hynix soared 3.69%

The ASX 200 in Australia also added 0.78% as the sectors mostly advanced, ahead of the release of the country’s first quarter gross domestic product at 09:30 a.m. HK/SIN.

Overnight on Wall Street, stocks jumped as the major indexes all rose more than 2% each on the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 512.40 points, or 2.1% to 25,332.18. The S&P 500 jumped 2.1% to 2,803.27 and the Nasdaq Composite surged 2.7% to 7,527.12. The major indexes had their second-best day of 2019.

The moves stateside came after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powellsignaled that the central bank was open to easing monetary policy to support the economy.

He said the central bank will “act as appropriate to sustain the expansion.” He noted, however, the Fed does not know “how or when” global trade issues will be resolved. “We are closely monitoring the implications of these developments for the U.S. economic outlook,” he added.

Powell’s comments came amid increasing expectations for a Fed rate cut. The CME FedWatch tool indicated about a 90% chance of a September rate cut. Expectations for a second rate cut in December were also above 80%.

The Fed chair’s speech “hit the right balance appeasing equity markets by confirming the Fed stands ready to act in order to sustain the current economic expansion if trade tensions hamper US economic growth,” while also rejecting “the recent aggressive pricing of Fed rate cut expectations,” National Australia Bank senior foreign exchange strategist Rodrigo Catril wrote in a note.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 97.107 after climbing above 97.2 on Tuesday.

Investors also cheered comments made by the Chinese Commerce Ministry, which said in a post that the “differences and frictions between the two sides” should dealt with through talks, according to a Google translation. Market watchers took those remarks as a sign of possible easing of trade tensions between Beijing and Washington after each country hiked tariffs on billions of dollars worth of each other’s goods in May.

But, the post also said talks “need to be based on mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.”

On the U.S.-Mexico trade front, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Tuesday he expects both countries to find common ground on immigration and trade, despite U.S. President Donald Trump threatening to slap tariffs on all imports coming from Mexico. For their part, Republican lawmakers have indicated their opposition to the tariffs on Mexican goods. They have also hinted at blocking those levies if the president moves forward with them.

The Japanese yen traded at 108.15 against the dollar after touching levels around 107.9 in the previous session.

The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6989, after touching a high around $0.700 yesterday following the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to slash interest rates.

— CNBC’s Fred Imbert contributed to this report.