Asian shares mostly rise in muted trading on bargain-hunting
Asian shares are mostly higher after Wall Street benchmarks fell on worries that the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep raising interest rates TOKYO -- Asian shares were mostly higher Friday after Wall Street benchmarks fell on worries that the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep raising interest rates. Markets rose in Japan, Australia, South Korea and China in muted trading . Oil prices rose. Hot readings on the U.S. jobs market Thursday got traders thinking the Fed will need to keep inflicting pain on the economy to fight surging prices. Inflation has been easing from a peak of 9.1% in June to 7.1% in November and investors have been hoping for signs that could prompt the Fed to ease up on applying the brakes to the economy with high interest rates. Those hopes have been dashed so far. The strong labor market reports set the stage for the release on Friday of the Labor Department’s snapshot of hiring in December. “Overall risk sentiments could lean more toward a wait-and-see in the lead-up ...