Asian markets rise while US stock futures struggle after Wall Street’s modest gains Thursday

(CNN) – Asian markets jumped Friday while US stock stuttered after yet another volatile day of trading.

South Korea’s Kospi was last up 4.5%, putting the benchmark index on pace to record its first gains since March 10.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index increased 2.8%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 1.9%. China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.5%.

Markets in Japan are closed for a holiday.

“The shoulder-launched artillery barrage from the worlds’ central banks and government treasuries seems to have stopped the rot sweeping the global economy for now,” wrote Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst for Asia Pacific at Oanda, referring to a slew of policies aimed at shoring up countries worldwide.

US stock futures, meanwhile, were mixed following what had looked like positive momentum for Wall Street earlier in the day.

Dow futures dropped 111 points, about 0.6%. Nasdaq futures were up 0.1%, and S&P 500 futures fell about 0.6%.

Wall Street closed with modest gains on Thursday after another wild day. The Dow finished up nearly 1%, or 188 points — the first time since March 6 that the index closed within 1,000 points from where it opened.

The S&P 500 rose 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite ended 2.3% higher.

The New York Federal Reserve on Thursday continued its effort to create liquidity in the strained financial markets by announcing it would purchase another $10 billion of mortgage-backed securities, part of a larger package of $200 billion in mortgage bonds the Fed promised on Sunday to buy as it relaunched quantitative easing.

Late on Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed into a law a relief package that is also meant to help bolster the economy amid the coronavirus outbreak.

This story was first published on CNN.com, “Asian markets rise while US stock futures struggle after Wall Street’s modest gains Thursday”