stocks in asia are poised for muted gains after us equities inched higher after the federal reserve paused interest rate hikes but warned further increases this year remain on the table futures for equity benchmarks in japan australia and hong kong advanced us contracts were moderately higher in early asian trading following the 01 rise for the sp 500 on wednesday which closed at the highest level since april last year the nasdaq 100 rose 07 bringing its gain since the start of the year to 37 the dollar fell to trade near a onemonth low as the australian dollar was among the largest gainers in major currencies against the greenback on wednesday treasury twoyear yields which are more sensitive to imminent fed moves climbed two basis points to 469 powell also said nearly all fed officials expect it will be appropriate to raise interest rates “somewhat further” in 2023 to bring down inflation “not a single person on the committee wrote down a rate cut this year nor do i think it is at all likely to be appropriate” he noted suggesting that such a decision would be a couple of years out bond traders reined in bets the fed will lower interest rates this year with swap contracts pricing in a peak rate of 53 in september in asia investors will be focused on potential policy easing in china and retail and industrial data for may that is expected to show further slowing in the country’s sputtering recovery consensus forecasts predict a 10 basis point cut to china’s oneyear mediumterm lending facility rate on thursday as part of broader stimulus efforts to support real estate and domestic demand new zealand gross domestic product data for the first quarter is expected to show the country entered a recession faster than the central bank anticipated following an aggressive run of policy tightening “no rate hike this month does not necessarily mean that the fed is finished raising rates this cycle” said jason pride chief investment officer private wealth for glenmede “it is more likely that today’s decision will prove to be a ‘skip’ ahead of another rate hike at the july meeting than a prolonged pause in the rate hike campaign” in corporate news advanced micro devices inc rallied as the chipmaker showed off its planned line of artificial intelligence processors nvidia corp hit an alltime high extending this year’s surge tesla inc fell snapping its recordsetting 13day winning streak unitedhealth group inc slumped after an executive said a recent increase in surgeries and other medical care might push expenses higher than anticipated some of the main moves in markets   sp 500 futures rose 01 as of 731 am tokyo time the sp 500 rose 01   the bloomberg dollar spot index was little changed   the euro was little changed at 10833   the japanese yen was little changed at 14005 per dollar   the offshore yuan was little changed at 71752 per dollar   the australian dollar was little changed at 06799   the yield on 10year treasuries declined three basis points to 379 this story was produced with the assistance of bloomberg automation