New York, Dec 19 (AP) Asian shares were moderately higher and US futures were mixed after the Bank of Japan raised its key policy rate Friday to its highest level in 30 years.

The 0.25 percentage point increase by the BOJ was widely expected. It took the benchmark rate to 0.75 per cent, which is still low compared with other major economies.

There was scant immediate reaction in the markets to a decision that could reverberate through currency and cryptocurrency markets. Regional shares advanced after stocks on Wall Street rose Thursday following an encouraging report on inflation that could help the Federal Reserve keep cutting interest rates next year.

The future for the S&P 500 was barely changed, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2 per cent.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 1.2 per cent to 49,568.66. Financial industry companies that may see profits climb due to higher interest rates led the advance.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.4 per cent to 25,610.50, while the Shanghai Composite index added 0.5 per cent to 3,895.75.

In Seoul, the Kospi climbed 0.5 per cent to 8,628.70.

Taiwan's index gained 0.9 per cent, while the Sensex in India dipped 0.2 per cent.

On Thursday, European indexes gained after the Bank of England cut its key interest rate and the European Central Bank kept its rate steady.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.8 per cent to 6,774.76, and broke a four-day losing streak. The Dow added 0.1 per cent to 47,951.85, and strength for tech stocks sent the Nasdaq composite up a market-leading 1.4 per cent, to 23,006.36.

Some relief came from a report showing that inflation was lower last month than economists expected. That could soothe nerves at the Fed, which is responsible for keeping inflation low and for keeping the job market strong.

Inflation is still higher than anyone would like, at 2.7 per cent last month, but if it creeps closer to the Fed's target of 2 per cent, Fed officials could feel more free to cut interest rates to help a slowing job market. Wall Street loves lower rates because they can boost the economy and prices for investments, even if they may also worsen inflation.

Thursday's inflation update may not move the needle much at the Fed given how noisy economic reports have been following the US government's shutdown. Next month's update on inflation could provide a better gauge of what's actually happening.

Also helping to drive gains was Micron Technology, a maker of memory and storage for computers, which rallied 10.2 per cent after reporting better profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

Billions of dollars are flowing into artificial-intelligence technology, which helped superstar stocks like Nvidia lead the market for years.

But questions are rising about whether those stock prices shot too high and whether customers will get a good-enough return on their AI investments through bigger profits and productivity. Worries are also weighing on companies that are borrowing lots of money amid the AI frenzy.

Oracle added 0.9 per cent and Broadcom rose 1.1 per cent. They have been at the centre of such concerns recently. Nvidia, the chip company that's become Wall Street's most influential because of its immense size, gained 1.8 per cent.

Another winner was Trump Media & Technology Group, which jumped 41.9 per cent to trim some of its steep loss for the year so far, 69.3 per cent coming into the day. The company, which began with President Donald Trump's Truth Social platform and then moved into cryptocurrencies and various other lines of business, is now moving into nuclear power.

It's merging with TAE Technologies in an all-stock deal, and each company will own roughly half of the combined business.

In other dealings early Friday, US benchmark crude oil lost 16 cents to USD 55.84 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, shed 21 cents to USD 59.61 per barrel.

The dollar rose to 156.08 Japanese yen from 155.53 yen. The euro slipped to USD 1.1719 from USD 1.1723.

The price of bitcoin rose to about USD 86,900. (AP) GRS GRS