Stock market today: Global shares rally, encouraged by Wall Street's gains

TOKYO -- Global shares mostly rose on Thursday, encouraged by gains on Wall Street led by a handful of influential Big Tech companies.

France's CAC 40 rose 0.9% in early trading to 7,464.15, while Germany's DAX jumped 1.4% to 18,578.93. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.9% to 8,269.10. U.S. shares were set to drift higher with Dow futures up 0.2% at 40,999.00. S&P 500 futures gained 0.2% to 5,574.75.

In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 soared 3.4% to finish at 36,833.27, although the gains were partly a reflection of earlier sharp drops.

The recent cheaper yen was a boon for some issues, as it boosts the value of overseas earnings when converted into yen. Toyota Motor Corp. jumped 3.8%, while Nintendo Co. rose 1.5%.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 142.65 Japanese yen from 142.28. The euro cost $1.1022, up from $1.1017.

Shares in Nippon Steel Corp. added 1.8% after Keidanren, a group of Japan’s top businesses, expressed in a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen concerns about “political interference” in Nippon Steel’s proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel Corp. U.S. Steel issues finished nearly 7% higher a day earlier.

“America’s investment climate will be severely tarnished if such political interference prevails,” according to the letter, which was also signed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Global Business Alliance, Alliance for Automotive Innovation and other groups.

Yellen oversees the government committee reviewing the takeover, while the White House recently signaled an openness to blocking the acquisition.

In the rest of the region, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.1% to 8,075.70. South Korea's Kospi rose 2.3% to 2,572.09. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 0.8% to 17,240.39, while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.2% to 2,717.12.

In the latest government report on U.S. inflation, overall inflation slowed to 2.5% in August from 2.9% in July, a touch better than expected. But prices rose more than expected from July into August when ignoring food and energy, and economists say that can be a better predictor of where inflation is heading.

The data seemed to confirm the U.S. Federal Reserve will likely cut its main interest rate at its meeting next week, which would be the first such cut in more than four years. A worry is that it may prove too late, with U.S. shoppers already struggling under the weight of high prices.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude gained 71 cents to $68.02 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added 69 cents to $71.30 a barrel.

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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed to this report.