Asian share markets followed Wall Street higher as the growing prospect of several more US rate cuts promised to lower borrowing costs globally, a relief to stressed bond markets and a drag on the dollar.

Indexes in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan all scaled record peaks, urged on by extravagant expectations for AI-related earnings growth.

The US consumer price report had been the last major hurdle to the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates next week, and it proved unthreatening, if a little firm.

Indeed, costs in the CPI that feed into the Fed's preferred measure of core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) were on the soft side, leading analysts at Citi to predict a steady reading of 2.9 per cent for August.

"It's an encouraging reading for Fed officials preparing to engage in a

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